Civil wars are defined as a violent conflict within a country fought by organized groups that aim to take power at the center or in a region, or to change government policies.
The Cold War was a state of geopolitical tension after World War II between powers in the Eastern Bloc (the Soviet Union and its satellite states) and powers in the Western Bloc (the United States, its NATO allies and others).
The cold civil war is the deep divisions in US politics, media and society.
Carl Bernstein spoke for the left and democrats and the media. He describes the conflict over fake news and the media and the Trump government.
Carl Bernstein says the Russia probe and the Kavanaugh nomination are “almost the Gettysburg and Antietam, the absolutely essential battles of this cold civil war, and both the Democrats and the Republicans, unfortunately, understand that and are exploiting that.
Hanson also describes the geographic split (coasts and cities versus center and non-urban) and how the split has taken physical forms.
In the National Review he wrote his analysis of the Cold Civil War.
How, when, and why has the United States now arrived at the brink of a veritable civil war?
Almost every cultural and social institution — universities, the public schools, the NFL, the Oscars, the Tonys, the Grammys, late-night television, public restaurants, coffee shops, movies, TV, stand-up comedy — has been not just politicized but also weaponized.
Donald Trump’s election was not so much a catalyst for the divide as a manifestation and amplification of the existing schism.
We are now nearing a point comparable to 1860, and perhaps past 1968. Left–Right factionalism is increasingly fueled by geography — always history’s force multiplier of civil strife. Red and blue states ensure that locale magnifies differences that were mostly manageable during the administrations of Ford, Carter, Reagan, the Bushes, and Clinton.
What has caused the United States to split apart so rapidly?
Globalization had an unfortunate effect of undermining national unity. It created new iconic billionaires in high tech and finance, and their subsidiaries of coastal elites, while hollowing out the muscular jobs largely in the American interior.
the tech boom, illegal immigration, campus radicalism, the new racialism . . . Are they leading us toward an 1861?
What Might Bring the United States Together Again? According to Hanson
A steady 3 to 4 percent growth in annual GDP would trim a lot of cultural rhetoric. Four percent unemployment will make more Americans valuable and give them advantages with employers. Measured, meritocratic, diverse, and legal immigration would help to restore the melting pot.
Reforming the university would help too, mostly by abolishing tenure, requiring an exit competence exam for the BA degree (a sort of reverse, back-end SAT or ACT exam), and ending government-subsidized student loans that promote campus fiscal irresponsibility and a curriculum that ensures future unemployment for too many students.
Nextbigfuture believes the split in the USA will remain for decades
Nextbigfuture believes the split in the USA will remain for decades.
There is economic sustainability in the split. Media and businesses are able to profit from the split. A change would be seen if Saturday Night Live and the Colbert Show and Fox News all changed to non-partisan positions or if they economically failed because of their partisan positions.
One alternative is for either the right or the left to emerge completely victorious.
The other is a healing of the split. There will need to be greater profit and support for a revived middle ground to mend the split. This would first require recreating a party and base for a middle ground.
Another alternative would be to have the US split apart. California and coastal states could secede.