Nobody Expects the Spanish Civil War!

Whatever happened to President Obama's call for civility in public discourse? To say the least, political rhetoric and inflammatory salvos against the opposing side appear to be heating up and increasing in intensity.

Before Pres. Obama began to address a union crowd in Detroit, Mich. on Monday, Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa Jr. offered some harsh words for Republicans. Hoffa: "We got to keep an eye on the battle that we face: The war on workers. And you see it everywhere, it is the Tea Party. And you know, there is only one way to beat and win that war. The one thing about working people is we like a good fight. And you know what? They've got a war, they got a war with us and there's only going to be one winner. It's going to be the workers of Michigan, and America. We're going to win that war."

Hoffa continued in an aggressive tone, "President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let's take these son of bitches out and give America back to an America we belong." At the Detroit event, President Obama later chastised Congress, "Labor's on board, businesses [are] on board. We just need Congress to get on board."

At an AFL-CIO rally in Cincinnati, Ohio on Monday, Vice-President Joe Biden also offered militaristic language with respect to the left combating conservatives: "The only people who have the capacity -- organizational capacity and muscle -- to keep, as they say, the barbarians from the gate, is organized labor." Biden's comment likening conservatives to barbarians comes as an echo to accusations that Biden said that Tea Party Republicans acted like terrorists in the heat of the nation's recent debt debacle.

In light of Texas Governor Rick Perry's recent comments suggesting that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke would be guilty of treason if Bernanke decided to boost the economy by printing more money and Perry's suggesting that Bernanke would get physically harmed if he came to Texas, the stinging political rhetoric is not limited to one side or the other. But do we really need talk of barbarians, traitors, and sons-of-bitches in our public political discourse? Though good for getting followers to rally around a banner, I believe such militaristic language is counter-productive. In terms of the contemporary political debate in America, the rhetoric is starting to get a little ridiculous. Apparently, there are some ideologues in the US who need to grow up.

In viewing the recent comments by the abovementioned political figures, one cannot help but feel that the current political rhetoric seems to be foreshadowing a future war that pits "conservative" Americans against "liberal-progressive" Americans. Of course, this would not be the first time that a politically divided nation (split between the right and the left) was driven to the throes of battle. Although the circumstances of 1930s Spain are much different than modern-day America, the Spanish Civil War is a good example of a war fought between the modern ideological differentiation of the right and the left in such a way where both sides disagreed on first principles and could not seem to agree on a course for national direction. In this way, as goes a variation on a Monty Python sketch, "Nobody expects the Spanish Civil War!"

I mean, seriously, saying "let's take those son of bitches out" and that this is a war where there's only going to be one winner? What sort of comment is that other than a bold invitation to nationwide "civil war" violence in American cities and on American streets on the basis of cheap political ideology? For the president of the United States to address the crowd shortly after such a comment connotes latent approval. What then about Pres. Obama's call for civility in public discourse?

The recent comments by US political figures highlight the underlying Kulturkampf in which we find ourselves. As both sides are divided and entrenched with disagreement on the role of government and direction going forward, there appears to be no hope for a lasting compromise in the immediate future. Where the right and the left cannot seem to agree on even a date when the President can speak to a joint session of Congress, it is clear that the political discussion in the US is becoming tenser as the days and weeks go by.

As conservatives and liberal-progressives appear more and more unwilling to even come to the table to discuss policy with the other side, hope for political functionality in the US government is waning. With the left blatantly insulting the right in a militant fashion and the right sparking panic of an apocalyptic new world order, martial law, and fear of Washington dictatorship, it is as if both sides are subtly encouraging and spurring a future state of violence and chaos in the US. US political figures may be merely using the war analogy for effect, but this may be going too far when citizens already distrust the US government and are already approaching the edge of survival.

Where one can appreciate that conservatives and liberal-progressives may not agree on basic first principles and policy goals, there are other factors to be taken into account. To say the least, the media and entertainment industries are doing a very shoddy job at defusing these political conflicts in the US. From Chris Matthews' comment that Gov. Perry better be "squeaky clean" all the way back to Rosie O'Donnell's call last year to seize BP's assets in a communist fashion, the media and the entertainment industry have proven themselves to be absolutely worthless in dealing with America's growing culture war and the overarching political conflicts involved.

Where the media and the entertainment industry in America could be defusing this societal upheaval or could serve as sort of a mode of therapeutic relief from the fiery political conflict going on in Washington, they appear to only be fanning the flames and adding more fuel to the fire. Major news organizations such as ABC News, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and NPR would be better off (1) encouraging robust public debates on a daily basis from a wide range of perspectives, (2) holding US politicians accountable, and (3) allowing conservatives & liberal-progressives to come to terms with their disagreements, rather than taking sides and presenting somewhat lackluster, biased news information in a stale, matter-of-fact tone that only alienates the public and damages consumer confidence.

On a personal note, I think it would be nice if the US had a politically independent public news organization like the BBC or even Danmarks Radio to turn to given our now hostile & counter-productive culture of political discussion in America. (Maybe Danmarks Radio could set up one or two or seven channels here in the US from which Americans can get the news. I would like to note, however, that the Drudge Report has done a decent job in being a reliable news source for Americans; Drudge Report is to be commended.) Americans are going to need some form of therapeutic relief to calm the political and societal unrest that appears to be spilling into our streets and into our daily lives. With the media and the entertainment industry dropping the ball, Americans are left to turn to professional and collegiate sports for therapeutic relief from the specter of political and economic doom.

Is the current rhetoric in political discourse leading up to a climactic conflict between the right and the left in the US? Hopefully not, but the use of militaristic terms is quite ominous given the stressed-out, anxious, worn out, and weary status of American society. Partisans on both sides would do well to avoid such use of inflammatory, militant language in public discussion. It is foreseeable that the continued use of equating the "other side" as a wartime enemy could lead to violent outcomes and revolutionarily destructive protests. As Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin once said, "You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake." Even more, a house divided cannot stand; with political ideologies split down the middle among the US population, any such war as alluded to by Hoffa would amount to a state of "total war"...with mutually assured destruction on both sides.

It is as if the US is starting to become a powder keg of sorts with the right and left divided against each other. The irony of the prospect of this sort of political "civil war" between conservatives and liberal-progressives is that the two major American political parties are really not that dissimilar. Both the Republicans and the Democrats tend to be overly bureaucratic, statist, divided ideologically, self-serving, and somewhat dysfunctional. Even further, many American independents are caught in the crossfire between liberal-progressives and conservatives. As the left and the right are at war with each other, many independents are left estranged and wondering how to restore a sense of sanity & functionality to not only American politics but everyday life.

Even among loyal partisans, there are numerous divisions between the two major arbitrarily-divided "official" sides of the political debate anyhow: Tea Party Republicans, Bush Republicans, RINOs (Republicans in name only), Log Cabin Republicans, Yellow Dog Democrats, Kennedy Democrats, Union Democrats, extreme left-wing Democrats, et. al. In other words, the political debate goes much deeper than being about one's political party; it's about one's political ideology. And even then, mud-slinging and casting blame can only take a government and the democratic process so far.

If the US is starting to become a powder keg of sorts, then one has to wonder when a spark to ignite it would come. Further, one has to wonder what would occur after the spark ignites the American powder keg. As the range of political ideologies pulls sides farther and farther apart with greater polarization, the result is political dysfunctionality. And as political dysfunctionality sets in, the risk of the nation falling into a state of civil war increases. Nobody expects the Spanish Civil War.

It is time that politicians return to a dialogue of civility in both word and deed. Individuals need to realize that although we may not all agree politically or ideologically, we are going to have to work together if we hope to get out of this quagmire. We need to start addressing the real issues, and we need to start coming to functional solutions going forward. Of course, this is easier said and done, but something has to change. In the end, those who have the power to do so (like the government, the press, the media, and/or the entertainment industry) should be working to bring the country together rather than drawing the country further apart. The media has to start holding the government accountable on both sides of the debate.

As for the current American Kulturkampf, the answer is simple: suum cuique pulchrum est -- to each his own. Our diversity is what makes America strong; let us allow individuals to live as they please; let us allow our diversity to continue to make us stronger and not destroy us from within. We need to let go of these petty differences before they consume the nation in the midst of a crippling economic crisis; we need to grow up and work together. We need to get on the same page on something, so a productive dialogue towards real solutions can begin. Believe it or not, we all have a lot in common despite our political sentiments; we would do well to focus more on our similarities than our differences. Rather than fostering and feeding political and cultural conflicts, I hope in time that the media and the entertainment industry work to bring resolution and relief for American society. For both the right and the left, the fiery, militant rhetoric and the scathing, inflammatory political salvos have to stop -- and if they don't, then heaven knows what is to come. And if what is to come is some sort of civil war, then God help us all.