The Worst Year

Zach St Clair

Zach is an acerbic Midwesterner with a deep love of history, politics, and board games.

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13 Responses

  1. Jaybird says:

    The first thing to understand about large-scale protests, and rioting, is that it does not occur in areas where the social status of all is healthy and prosperous.

    I dunno.

    Some of it was in Minneapolis, true.

    But some of it was in the CHAZ. It’s weird how the Capital Hill Zone was the scene of one of the long-term protests. It doesn’t quite fit the theory.

    And if you think things are bad now, look back at similar situations throughout history, and realize that you haven’t seen anything yet.

    The phrase that has stuck with me is “Divorce or War”.Report

    • Burt Likko in reply to Jaybird says:

      Divorce works if the cleavage is one that lends itself to territorial division. But our political split breaks down geographically on rural/urban lines. Which makes war look less like Virginia in 1862 and more like Syria in 2017.Report

      • Jaybird in reply to Burt Likko says:

        Please understand, I’m not saying “these are the things that will solve the problems”.

        I’m just saying “game this out… keep iterating the game… what’s the first really, really interesting set of scenarios you encounter more than 50% of the time?”Report

      • Michael Cain in reply to Burt Likko says:

        Today. With my particular conspiracy hat on, I point out that the partition issue isn’t ripe yet. In some number of years — more than 23 and less than 43, if I stick with my original forecast — there will be enough changes that the most urban states will have bribed their rural areas into going along. Eg, rural Colorado will have figured out that Mississippi can’t offer them nearly as good a deal as the Front Range can.

        Yes, on this particular topic I’m out on the lunatic fringe.Report

    • Aaron David in reply to Jaybird says:

      How so in CHAZ? What did you feel it was like beforehand?

      And the phrase that is sticking with me is “Sectarian Violence.”Report

  2. Oscar Gordon says:

    …because their only goal is violence and power.

    Is that not exactly what the current order has? They have power, and the violence that such power permits them. The protesters have none, and our political system has effectively shut them out of the peaceful means of acquiring that power.

    So they resort to the age old means of getting it.

    Comparisons to Germany fall flat.

    Comparisons to the French and long drops, short stops might get you further.Report

    • Damon in reply to Oscar Gordon says:

      ” The protesters have none, and our political system has effectively shut them out of the peaceful means of acquiring that power.”

      So, you’re saying that neither the Republicans or the Democrats want them as members of their party? But the Dems are happy to use them for their own interests, so who’s worse?

      Do you think that, now that the dragon has been unleashed, there’s any way to capture it again?Report

      • Philip H in reply to Damon says:

        No – he’s saying (and quite plainly) that neither party’s politicians are responsive to the actual needs the protesters are on about. And frankly for Democrats its been a good thing, in as much as the national Party has had to make policy statements and issue plans to get back to those issues if it wants a shot at the White House and retaking the Senate.Report

        • Oscar Gordon in reply to Philip H says:

          Not that I have any confidence that the party is doing much more than playing lip service to those issues…Report

          • Philip H in reply to Oscar Gordon says:

            They may not be, but Representative Ocacio-Cortez’s speech last night – nominating Bernie Sanders – made it clear they will have to at some point if they want to entrain the next generation.Report

            • Jaybird in reply to Philip H says:

              Everybody who gets enough delegates makes it to that point in the process. This has happened since forever.

              Report