On the Left Wanting a Civil War, By Chris Knight (Florida)
The notion that the U.S. Left might desire a civil war emerges from a fractured political landscape where polarisation has reached a fever pitch, fuelled by apocalyptic rhetoric and a perceived existential threat to their values. Over the past decade, the Left—encompassing progressive Democrats, activist groups, and radical factions—has increasingly framed their opponents on the Right as an irredeemable danger to democracy itself. This narrative gained traction after events like the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, which some on the Left, including prominent figures like Joe Biden, painted as a fascist coup attempt by Donald Trump and his supporters. The Biden campaign's temporary pause of ads casting Trump as an "enemy of democracy" after the July 13, 2024, assassination attempt on Trump—seen by some as a consequence of their own hyperbole—suggests a recognition of how their language could incite violence. Yet, rather than dialling back, this rhetoric has intensified, with calls from some progressive circles to "fight fire with fire" against a Right they accuse of undermining elections, courts, and civil rights. Groups like Extinction Rebellion, with their radical climate activism, and student protesters advocating for the "total eradication of Western civilisation," hint at a willingness to embrace chaos to force change, aligning with accelerationist ideas that society must collapse to be reborn. This suggests a segment of the Left sees civil war not as a tragedy but as a necessary purge to dismantle what they view as a decaying, oppressive system.
The Left's potential desire for conflict is further stoked by their frustration with institutional inertia. With trust in government plummeting—Congress hovers around a 20 percent approval rating—and the legal system losing legitimacy amid partisan battles, progressives feel their goals, like gun control, climate action, and social equity, are perpetually stalled by a conservative-leaning Supreme Court and Republican-controlled states. The 2021 University of Maryland-Washington Post survey, showing 23 percent of Democrats justifying violence against the government, reflects this desperation. Some on the Left might see a civil war as a way to break this deadlock, imagining a revolutionary moment where their ideals—universal healthcare, wealth redistribution, and cultural transformation—could be imposed by force. The film Civil War (2024), with its depiction of armed factions battling a fragmented government, resonates with this fantasy, even if it blurs sides into a chaotic free-for-all.
Yet, this path would end badly for the Left, and the reasons are as brutal as they are inevitable. The Right, particularly conservative and far-Right groups, holds a structural advantage that would crush any Leftist uprising. The U.S. boasts 434 million firearms in civilian hands—1.3 per person—per the National Shooting Sports Foundation, with 19.8 million semi-automatic weapons, a firepower concentrated among rural, conservative strongholds. These areas, often red states like Texas and Montana, control vast swathes of farmland and natural resources, giving them self-sufficiency that urban, Left-leaning centres like New York or California lack. Some internet discussions speculate that conservatives could shell urban infrastructure, plunging blue cities into darkness and starvation, while rural areas endure longer without urban supplies. The Left's base, clustered in densely packed cities, relies on just-in-time supply chains—groceries, water, electricity—that would collapse under siege or disruption, a vulnerability starkly absent in the geographically dispersed Right.
Military loyalty adds another layer of doom. The U.S. military, with its overwhelming superiority—drones, nukes, and advanced tech—would likely tilt toward the Right, given that 51 percent of veterans and a significant portion of active personnel lean conservative. A coup or decisive intervention by the military could quash Leftist factions in a "long weekend," rendering urban guerrilla tactics futile against air strikes or surveillance. The Left's infighting—progressives versus moderates versus radicals—further weakens them, lacking the solidarity the Right shows with groups like the Oath Keepers. Historical parallels, like the Yugoslav wars, relied on clear ethnic lines; America's messy, neighbour-against-neighbour divide would leave the Left fractured and exposed.
The economic and cultural fallout would seal their fate. A civil war would tank the U.S. economy, already strained by debt and inequality, with capital markets fleeing disorder, as Ray Dalio warned in 2024. The Left's urban strongholds, dependent on global trade and tech hubs, would haemorrhage wealth, while the Right's resource-based economy holds steadier. Culturally, the Left's push for inclusivity could alienate moderates, driving them to the Right or neutrality, shrinking the progressive base. The establishment narrative—pushing a "backsliding democracy" story—overlooks this asymmetry, framing both sides as equally culpable, but the raw power dynamics tell a different tale. Even if the Left sparked conflict, they'd face a meat grinder, ending not in victory but in ruin, with cities reduced to rubble and their ideals buried under the weight of their own miscalculation.
This grim prognosis doesn't mean the Left actively plans war—it's more a reckless flirtation with chaos they underestimate. But if they pushed, the outcome would be a bloody lesson in hubris, leaving the U.S. a fractured shell, with the Left bearing the brunt of a disaster they helped unleash.
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