The Untied States Aren't Anymore, Part II

Taking up where my previous article left off, in days of yore when one's enemy was holed up in his castle, his keep, his stone fortification, there was only one way to get him out - siege warfare. One of the tools of siege warfare was mining or engineering. The besieger would tunnel under one of the walls or preferably a corner of the structure. They would build wood piers to support the tunnel as they mined their way toward the apron wall of the structure.

When the engineers felt they'd reached the proper place - under a corner of the castle's foundation or under a curtain wall, they'd pack the tunnel with wood and then set it alight. As the wood burned it would destroy the wooden piers used to shore the tunnel and when the wood burned it collapsed, thus hopefully the walls of the castle would crash down into the exposed tunnel. Hence the term "undermining." See?

Another tool of the besieger was to cause division within the walls. They used various tactics, but the goal was to thin out the defenders by hook or crook and thus such a lack of unity within the walls would assist the besieger. It takes a uniformity to defend a besieged entity. Sow misery, starvation, deprivations and disease (that's what tossing dead animal carcasses over the wall was all about) and presto, the defenders are thinned out. Such a condition helps the besieger see their end game come to fruition.

That's where the US stands today folks. I am of the firm belief that is what the non-traditional factions in this nation are busy doing - undermining the foundation of this nation to see the change they desire become reality. I fear no one faction, but when there are hundreds of them aligned with a common goal - to see their desired reality become an actual reality - we are in trouble, and that is exactly where I believe we are at present.

What might happen when we add in the state of the entire planet? Since we are now an interconnected world, things in Korea make a difference here. Same for the Middle East. Add in Europe's issues and the world is a tinderbox. No longer is the US safe by virtue of two vast oceans on our flanks. Now the real enemies are within the walls and they sow discontent, confusion and all other manner of doubt to undermine confidence in what used to be imminently worthy of confidence - the United States.

The last time this nation was this divided we had a Civil War. I know too many I seem Chicken Little-like. Perhaps a little Glenn Beck-ian. Sorry, but my powers of observation are not influenced by others. I am swayed by realities and the realities I see are rather unsettling - at least to me.

In less tenuous times we are better able to handle extreme adversity. In times of extreme stress it takes less adversity to try one's ability to handle what may come. Even as WWII unfolded, despite the continued effects of the Depression, we were largely one nation, thus we united in the face of the common external threat. No longer!

Do folks think a collapsing EURO would not strain the US economy? Think again. What happens to worldwide logistics and chains of supply if stability are run asunder? I have posed this quandary before. In times of extreme stress, and I believe that is our current reality, it will not take too awful much to tip the scales to complete instability. With that will come more doubt, more questions and more desperation.

It's true there is nothing more fierce than a man defending his home and family and there is nothing more destabilizing than faction upon faction pulling at the seams of a nation. What might happen when destabilization smacks up against scared men feeling the need to defend themselves, their homes and their families?

I believe the perfect storm is out there. How we deal with the threat today will determine how bad it might get. Hundreds of factions will harm us. A lack of American unity will destroy us. Then what? 300 plus million individuals, each out for himself? Instead of hundreds of factions there will essentially be millions of them - each one of us our own faction made up of family or community, but each determined to defend ours. Anyone see anything good coming out of this?

Do people actually believe most will sit back and wait for direction from the powers that be? I know that is what many of the factions hope will be the reality. For example, after the Reichstag fire did German's take matters into their own hands? Nope. They allowed the powers that be install martial law (Enabling Acts) and before the ink was dry on that document Germany's fate was sealed. No, I am not saying we will see Nazism, although I'll bet some dim bulbs would love to sum up this treatise as such an asinine projection. That is not what this is at all.

Instead imagine people deciding the powers that be did not have their individual interests at heart? Then what? Millions and millions in fear? Can folks see where that might lead? I can't say for sure, but you can bet your bottom dollar it won't be good and it won't look like anything any modern American thought possible, likely or desirable.

The dynamic has changed. No longer are we "one nation" but instead are a series of factions and special interests, each with their own goal, with only one common denominator - that our desires become the eventual reality. That smacks dead up against traditional peeps like me who do not trust the powers that be to do what is best for me and mine. Anyone think that will be good for a unified America?

The scenario is then one of tradition and preservation versus those so demanding of change. Add in world instability, our declining dollar and Europe's tearing itself apart and my crystal ball sees things I'd rather not see. Anyone who thinks it can't happen here is naïve. The laws of physics do not alter when the shores of the continental US are reached. We are humans, subject to all the same fears and flaws as the rest. The US is a noble experiment, but if the Petri dish is smashed, what then? Woe be upon all of us.