Today is July 2nd, 2022. One-hundred and fifty-nine years ago today, John Bell Hood charged up the slopes of Little Round Top at the cost of his left arm, and Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain charged down the slopes of the same at the cost of a Dixie free and independent, and an America that resembled the vision the founders had. Regardless, it happened.
These three days, July 1st-3rd, have always stuck in my mind as a period of almost holy reflection. Not just because I have a kinsman buried in the Gettysburg cemetery, but because it’s the one piece of soil on Earth I feel tied to. The reader will forgive that this is a period in which the Civil War is more present in my thoughts than damn near any other time of year. Yet this year, my thoughts turn from the past to the future.
As the purposely provocative title states, the Second American Civil War will happen. Unlike gentlemen such as Scott Greer, I have always entertained the possibility of a second war between the states. It was not until yesterday, when John Buford repelled Harry Heth at the cost of his friend John Reynolds’ life, that its inevitability pressed itself upon my consciousness. It was not until today that I realized its shape would be far more familiar than many give it credit.
Take the (ongoing) January 6th hearing. That fateful day, imbued with so much power and destiny, will ring out from the throats of men on both sides of the war to come. Why do I say this? That day was powerful enough to spawn two different mythologies.
The Blue Mythology is that Jan 6th was the proof that the evil patriots of “MAGA Country,” illegally “Stormed” the Capitol, a sacred and untouchable temple of “Our Democracy.”
The Red Mythology is that Jan 6th was the last stand of patriots against a disgustingly corrupt and evil government, and wanted to make their dissatisfaction with the same understood.
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