Don’t Worry About America Having a New Civil War — It’s Already In One

America’s Headed Towards Fascism Without Much of a Fight. So Who Needs a War?

umair haque
Eudaimonia and Co
Published in
9 min readJan 10, 2022

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Image Credit: CNN Screenshot

Right about now, the country’s abuzz: is America headed for another civil war? I have some good news, that’s not really good news, and some bad news, that’s even worse news. The good news is: no, America’s not headed for another civil war. The bad news is that’s because it’s already in one.

Let me explain what I mean by that seemingly paradoxical statement. This buzz has been lit by a former CIA “advisor” named Barbara Walter, who’s published a book on the topic. Ms Walter seems like an intelligent and charming person. Still, Americans don’t understand civil wars, because…well…they’ve been busy starting most of them. I’ll come back to that point shortly.

America’s likely future doesn’t involve a civil war, at least not the way most Americans think of it — a replay of the last one, or a full scale confrontation of opposing armies on bloody battlefields. It doesn’t even involve a civil war the way that Ms Walter is teaching American pundits to think of it — a protracted, intense guerrilla campaign like in Ireland or Islamic collapses. America’s future right about doesn’t involve a civil war — like those — because it doesn’t need to.

The fascists are taking over without a fight. So who needs a civil war? Think back to Nazi Germany. There was no civil war. Why? Because the Nazis just…took over. They were handed control of the country, after a series of coups. They had successfully intimidated their way into power. And when you can bully an entire nation into giving up on democracy…then who needs a civil war?

That is exactly where America is right now. The fascists — and yes, they’re real fascists — are taking over without a fight. So who needs a war? Nobody does. I say they’re real fascists because, for example, here’s a State Senator telling a teacher not to teach kids that the Nazis were bad. The State Senator wants to be “impartial” about…the Nazis.

That might seem like a minor example to pick up on, but it’s not. It’s a perfect representative of the kind of trend that obviates the need for a civil war. The fascists are winning without a fight. Yes…

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