With someTexas lawmakers calling for secession, many fear the United States is on the brink of a second civil war. The prospect seems highly unlikely, but never say never.
America is a young nation, still an experiment in representative democracy. It is not immune to radically diverging viewpoints that could tear the country apart. This happened before when a disastrous national divide in the 1860s killed 620,000 to 750,000 Americans.
Don’t think history can’t repeat itself. The unwillingness of politicians to meet in the middle, familiar arguments over states’ sovereignty, changing voting rules and hounding political candidates in the courts only add fuel to the fire.
Last month, the Texas military and federal agents faced each other in a border standoff over immigration, with neither side giving ground.
Movies about violent divisions between U.S. states and the centralized federal government are gaining traction. Does Hollywood know something?
What shape would this conflict take? All-out hostilities? Destructive civil disobedience like the Jan. 6, 2020, intrusion at the U.S. Capitol and the riots in 2021 promoted by anti-police protestors, just on a larger scale? A cyber attack or electromagnetic pulse crippling banking and communications?
Secession by U.S. states could also split loyalties in the military. Don’t forget, Robert E. Lee was a top graduate of the United States Military Academy and even came to Texas, where he distinguished himself among U.S. troops during the Mexican American War. But when the call came to aid his beloved Virginia, he resigned his U.S. Army commission to help command Confederate forces. Modern precedents exist. In the 1990s, a secessionist movement that started in San Antonio took root in West Texas. The militia members drove vehicles bearing the bumper sticker, “I love my country but fear my government.” Their ranks included a lot of veterans — men and women, Blacks, Anglos and Latinos — all united in their distrust of Austin and Washington, D.C. An armed confrontation with 500 police ended their plans.
Fissures are beginning to show in the national bedrock as political campaigns heat up. As usual, some Lone Star State lawmakers want a referendum on leaving the U.S., but don’t dismiss their wish as unrealistic, even if it’s illegal. Texas has the planet’s eighth largest economy, valued at $2.4 trillion, and existed as an independent country before.
Cooler heads need to prevail, both in government and at the ballot box. A new civil war could leave America in shambles and open it up to foreign conquest.
It’s time for Americans to compromise, unify and put their country first. Otherwise, the U.S. may become just another entry in a future history book about failed nations with lofty aims.
Thomas Edwards
Comment
Comments