Civil War Redux

Our second civil war is beginning much like the first one did.

Quietly.

Hardly anyone paying attention. Sweet tea and corn bread anyone?

A splash of Kentucky sippin’ whiskey ( where they still know how to make a decent beverage)?

But that’s the way civil wars always begin. They only gather strength the closer they get. And our soon to be wrenching second civil war, is just over the horizon, just out of sight, and barreling toward us with immutable force. The age of DIS-ENTITLEMENT is about to swamp us in conflict and drown the unwary.

We have been running up the national credit card and we’ve had a lot of fun. Spending recklessly can be euphoric, even narcotic, and we have certainly enjoyed the ride, laughing all the way to the printing presses at the national mint.

WHOOPI!!! VOTE FOR ME.
THERE IS NOTHING I WON’T GIVE YOU
(except my own money, of course).
YOU ARE ENTITLED TO AS MANY
HANDOUTS AS WE CAN DREAM UP.

The Takers vs. The Makers

During mankind’s relentless march up the scale of prosperity, we have encountered many different ‘ages’ that have been named after the signature feature that marked the epoch. F or example, we have the stone age, the bronze age, the age of enlightenment, the reformation, the industrial revolution, etc.
And that brings us to our current age:

THE AGE OF ENTITLEMENT

A new civil war will break out in the near future in America and you can already hear the tearing of the fabric of our precious Republic. Those who make wealth, like entrepreneurs, or make a living like the gainfully employed, resent giving the ‘takers’ the capital they have earned by the sweat of their brow. But resentment by itself does not a revolution make. It takes more, a lot more. You have to add indignation which, by itself, is unmanifested rage which , stated another way, is merely anger on the back burner.
But to bring indignation to a boil you have to have leadership. Someone needs to step up to crystallize the diffuse indignation and squeeze it into a high density knot of explosive anger, much like a jet engine does with air just before it ignites it with kerosene…which is the smell you detect when you are in proximity to a firing jet engine.
Here’s the problem: Once the leader is in place, he is very difficult to get out of there for either of the takers or the makers. Right now, in America, the voices of the makers are just beginning to catch up to the growls of the takers. And herein lies the hot core of the reactor.

The takers are not going to go quietly into the night. They are being dissed…dis-entitled that is. They will fight sharp tooth and nail to hold on to the spoils they have gained over the last 70 years or so. Many, many a pocket depends on it. Just expect one hell of a fight because very seldom in history does any group holding fast to a tidy sum/power give it up just because some other group wants it.

Right at this point, the to-and-fro is about 50:50 with the takers trading blow with blow that the makers lob at them. Do not expect this evenly matched bout to stay evenly matched. It will not. If the political power of the makers ascends, the takers will become ever more vicious in protecting their turf.

Right now it’s all quite mild. Yes, a State House or two has been occupied causing laughter to break out in the rest of the country at those childish signs and all that chanting…but don’t laugh. We are right at the beginning of our second civil war, too soon for most to see the Tsunami headed straight at us, gleefully unerring and mindlessly destructive.

‘The best laid schemes o’mice and men
Gang aft a-gley.’ Robbie Burns (1759-1796)
MORE IN THE NEXT EDITION
What are your predictions?
We would love to hear them.

Please:
1.pithy, no pity.
2.sentiment, no sentimentality
3.witty and gritty