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Call for civil war should be condemned


“The Five” is a Fox News show in which five “hosts” express their political opinions. In a recent broadcast of that show one of the hosts, Greg Gutfeld, stated that a second American civil war is needed because “elections don’t work” and the nation is in “peril and chaos." He added: “We have a terrible education system. We have no border. We have crime everywhere. Every facet of society is in peril and in chaos because our elections don’t matter!”


My immediate reaction to this tirade was: “From what wormhole did this whacko hatch?” Given the huge number of weapons of war floating around our country at the present time, calls for a second civil war have real potential to generate violent scenes of death and destruction.


Though not mentioned in Gutfeld’s rant, a likely candidate to head up his plan would be Mr. Donald (Retribution) Trump. He already has shown his penchant for instigating violence via his part in the January 6, 2021 attack on our Capitol, as well as the autocratic themes he has been using during his 2024 campaign for president. Trump’s recent fascist rhetoric, including his statement that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country”, fits quite well with Gutfeld’s extremist statements.


Advocates for civil war are suggesting violence instead of elections as the appropriate solution to societal problems. This is a very dangerous idea. The final test of this hair-brained suggestion is that once initiated, when would it be appropriate not to entertain a civil war? Would we have one every time the autocrat in power decides one is needed in order for him or her to maintain control?


Our constitution was written in order to create a democratic republic in which elections, not violence, are the means for deciding who has the power to govern. We the people need to use our votes to prevent advocates of violence like Gutfeld and Trump from transforming our country from a democracy to a dictatorship.


Ed Shaffer

Galien

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