Don’t think of a civil war
I’m writing this on the afternoon of Tuesday, November 3. We’ll probably know who our next president is going to be in a few hours. I’m scared. But I often like to remind myself about how the forces that shape our society are so much bigger than who wins the undemocratic contest for president of the United States.
So this is a letter about those forces, and the important work ahead of us after this election. It’s the same work that’s been ahead of us for a long time, and it’s the same work no matter who wins the election.
I don’t want us to feel defeated and demoralized if Trump wins the presidency; nor do I want us to feel victorious and accomplished if Biden wins. The election will shape our context and possibly our tactics, but the work of building an inclusive social democracy will be the same. It is the work of nonviolent revolution.
A reckoning with inequality is definitely coming. Every month it seems I read another analysis that shows objectively how close we are to violent conflict. Inequality and division are worse than ever. The podcast “It Could Happen Here” practically predicts a civil war. The movie “Social Dilemma” illustrates how social media and cable news are leading to civil war because stoking division is what’s profitable. Political violence among Americans is way up. Yes, Trump is hugely to blame for promoting violence. He’s vile, but it’s not just him.
The forces that some people say point to civil war have been with us for decades and they are the same forces that could point to a remaking of our country into something, or somethings, better, much better.
The Democrats and Republicans won’t help. They have together promoted the hegemony of global capitalism that has supplanted allegiance to community and sustainability of our environment. They have enriched the elite while the rest of us are working harder than ever just to experience painful declines in our “quality of life” as measured by health, leisure time, housing security, or public infrastructure.
Our so-called “representative” government is too easily manipulated to do anything about it. Our anachronistic Senate allows a mere 50 people to control the fate of 328 million. It’s absurdly gerrymandered to maintain a two-party system as if two parties could possibly represent the views of 328 million people. It allowed Donald J. Trump, a psychopathic reality TV star, to practically buy the presidency.
The U.S. Constitution was approved 237 years ago. That’s long enough. It has once again “become necessary of one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another,” as the Declaration of Independence declares in its opening refrain.
This is a call to dissolve those bonds with our government and to create something better. This is a call to stop the talk of civil war and start talking about revolution. To say it better, stop talking about violent civil war and start talking about nonviolent revolution.
The United States is over. Long live the Americans.
I sincerely hope we’re not on the brink of war, but we should recognize the probabilities and be prepared. If the institutions that have defined the United States get destroyed, we have the chance to replace them with social democracy.
I sincerely hope that the Democrats sweep this election decisively winning the presidency and Senate. I hope they expand the courts and the Senate and marginalize the Republicans for decades as they did in California. But that’s not nearly enough.
What we need is so different it calls for a new nation. Let’s talk about that. This is my contribution to that conversation.
How shall we organize ourselves anew on this land currently occupied by the United States of America? Shall we break up into many smaller countries? California? Cascadia? Many autonomous indigenous nations? I love the Bay Area and intend to stay here, living in a new nation interdependent with its neighbors and welcoming of their residents. Ours will be a social democracy, with a vigorous public sphere, and a “bill of rights” that includes a right to housing and health care. We’ll use the best tools for as much participatory democracy as possible, and our legislature will be chosen by proportional representation, with an appropriate number of representatives. (California’s 40 million people, for example, should be represented by about 500 elected representatives, not merely 40 as currently represent us in the California State Senate, as anachronistic as Congress).
A new nation with more democracy, less violence, and a guarantee of housing and health care. That’s my vision for a post-U.S. future.
What’s yours? You may have an opportunity to start building it sooner than most people think.
