Is another American civil war possible?

‘Americans are not feeling great about one another.” That’s what poll after poll finds today. Divided we stand. We also learn that “Public trust in institutions is at a record low. Threats of violence against politicians are increasing.” Domestic tranquillity becomes less and less possible if it is not a vision all of us share.

We have come to a scary time of division, of “them and us.” The far right sees bogeymen creeping around. They tell each other via the internet, “They want to take away our guns, make us wear masks. Take away our freedom.” Those fearful souls see shadows and deep states, as they consider themselves vigilantes making America great again.

The rest of us see sunshine, community and, hopefully, better days ahead for everyone. “They “ don’t think they are included in our hopes and dreams. In fact, they are included, although It is true that I and many others don’t feel great about them.

Donald Trump did not invent the paranoid right, but he has given it self-righteous energy. They talk civil war with ease and, it seems, in eager anticipation. They want the fight; they want the war. They don’t seem to mind the blood, death and destruction that will inevitably follow. A recent poll says 40 percent of the American people think that civil war will come within the next ten years. We saw an early bit at the Capitol, but, if nothing is done, that will look like a tea party on the Mall.

If it comes, it will be a war between those who have guns and those who do not. It is likely to be white on one side and a mixture of colors on the other. Religious fervor and justification will come from some evangelicals, (if they bothered to be born again, why did they come back the same way?) There will be few women involved on the right, not because they don’t want to be at the front line, but because they are not warmly welcome in the Oath Keeper mentality which creeps beyond its membership.

If a civil war comes soon, the right is ready. Their forces are widespread. No state is without at least one hate group, armed and irrational. The power of the internet to gather the guns at a specified place was clear in the hearings on January 6. Donald Trump spoke; the riff raff showed up.

To keep civil war away, much depends on more reasonable Republicans. They can throw raw meat, as many have, or they can say no to guns and delusion.

Today, we wander in a far-right fantasyland of widespread voting fraud, a deep state sending hurricanes to embarrass right wing politicians.

In Iowa the majority party in the Legislature is determined to make gun ownership easier, quicker, and open carry common. That is not making us safer but arming one side of a civil war they seem to want.

I lived through the angry days of the 1960s. Our country was torn apart by Vietnam protests and civil rights demonstrations. Neither was a civil war, but democracy at work. It is time for some politicians to catch up with our past of protest, but not war.

Norman Sherman of Coralville has worked extensively in politics, including as Vice President Hubert Humphrey’s press secretary, and authored a memoir “From Nowhere to Somewhere.”