The American Conservative
We Were Made for Civil War
Michael Vlahos | professor in the Strategy and Policy Department at the US Naval War College, adjunct faculty member, Global Security Studies program at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Arts and Sciences , former Director of the Security Studies Program at Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies, and formerly with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, the Center for Naval Analyses, the Department of State and the Central Intelligence Agency
1 comment:
Civil war? Because some of the peasants enjoy bickering?
In the actual U.S. civil war, oligarchs’ interests were directly involved. Not so today.
In the mid-1800s the North had a larger population than the South, and therefore had greater representation in Congress. They passed all kinds of legislation without a single Southern vote. Lincoln himself was elected President without a single southern vote.
In those days, 75% of the U.S. government’s income came from Southern ports, where tariffs were collected. (This was before the USA had a national currency.) The Morrill Tariff of 1861 boosted Southern tariffs to 47.5%, severely hurting the South (including its oligarchs). The South had far less manufacturing, and was therefore far more import-dependent than was the North. The North ordered the South to impose a 47% tariff on imported goods, and send most of the proceeds to the North. During Lincoln’s inaugural address, he swore to militarily invade the South if the South did not continue to abide by the Northern-imposed Morrill Tariff. U.S. ships blockaded Southern ports to get the 47.5% tariff.
There were all kinds of shenanigans going on. Lincoln coaxed West Virginia to secede from Virginia so Lincoln could gain two senators who would vote Lincoln’s way.
Some 90% of Northerners didn’t care if the South seceded, not to the point where they were willing to die to prevent it. Therefore Lincoln imposed conscription, enslaving whites so he could throw them into a meat grinder.
Nothing like this is happening today. The people squawking at each other are young middle and upper middle class whites who are not truly starving. Most are college students and Internet warriors.
Meanwhile the genuinely poor are focused on sheer survival. They don’t care about “Nazis” and “homophobia” and “male privilege.” The poor are hated by liberals and conservatives alike. They have no time or energy to join Antifa mobs or “alt-right” marches.
In short, we are in no danger of civil war as long as the oligarchs remain united, and the peasants remain stupid.
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