The New Civil War

I can't count the number of times I've read news articles recently claiming there would be a new Civil War in America if gay marriage is upheld / rejected by the Supreme Court of the United States (a.k.a. SCOTUS). Or the chaos if the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare) is torn apart by the subsidies issue. Really, the amount of pandering to mass hysteria would be funny if the people writing these articles didn't actually believe half the things they were saying.

I'm not saying there won't be problems. But let's be honest. Expecting the U.S. to descend into chaos, for states to secede, for a whole 'nother intra-national conflict to explode completely misunderstands the history leading up to the U.S. Civil War and the mindsets of the people involved.

For one, our congressional representatives and U.S. senators aren't physically assaulting each other in the middle of a law-making session. Yes, debates are heated. Yes, there have been the stupid bullseye targeting of politicians on websites. Yet despite this rhetoric and general childishness, everything slung has mostly been verbal. While the "defense of marriage" laws do separate the states, we don't have any federal-level laws that are literally dividing the country into two countrys with one border surrounding them. Modern America is much more diverse than during the late 1800s. We have too many people of different political, ethnic, and religious bents for them to agree enough to form two armies and have at it.

Not to mention the technology issue.

Why does that matter?

Because it's kinda hard to get people worked up enough to dissolve into civil war when they're too busy streaming House of Cards or playing Candy Crush. How in heaven's name do the rabble-rousers expect to pull people away from their video games, Facebook rants, and Twitter convos?

Here's my "threat" to those who want to stoke mass hysteria. I have a voter's registration card, and I know how to use it. So neener to you.