The American Civil War divided the country, citizen against citizen, brother against brother. It cost the lives of 620,000 Americans with millions more injured. The root causes of this hostility, simply put, were slavery and States Rights. It began with a Confederate attack against Fort Sumter in South Carolina in 1861 and ended at Appomattox Courthouse Virginia 4 years later. It was the costliest and deadliest war ever fought on American Soil and left the South in ruins.
America’s UN-Civil War has also divided the Country, Republican against Democrat, Citizen against Citizen, Brother against Brother, Sister against Sister, Trumper vs Never-Trumper and has severely polarized the Country. The root causes for this polarization and hostility are many, Facebook, Twitter, loss of respect for the Constitution, Russian interference in US Election and our elected Representatives representing their own interests and the party’s interests over the American People who elected them. It began with the election of President Barack Obama in 2009. Patently false accusations were raised that the President was not a US Citizen. This was followed by a verbal attack by Rep. Joe Wilson when, at a joint session of Congress, he shouted “you lie”. This was a complete breakdown of protocol and civility. It was ironic that Joe Wilson was the Representative from South Carolina.
The UN-Civil war has neither ended nor abated since 2009, it has depleted any vestiges of civility or compromise among elected officials or citizens. In fact, it has progressively gotten worse with the election of Donald Trump in 2016. To illustrate this fact, one only has to look at the politically motivated shooting in June of 2017. A gunman attacked GOP lawmakers at a baseball field while they were practicing for the annual Congressional game. Six people were injured and House Majority whip Steve Scalise was severely injured. There were calls for the American people to come together and return to civility, tolerance, and mutual respect for one another. This was short lived and quickly followed by mass shootings at a Pennsylvania Synagogue and Walmart in El Paso.
The toxic brew of intolerance, hatred, uncivility and complete polarization has been exacerbated by the “UN” Social Media. Facebook and Twitter have afforded a curtain of anonymity to our “citizens” and allows them to throw rocks at their fellow Americans. Add to this mix Russia, who through Facebook and Twitter, used targeted ads to further polarize the American people and undermine the election process. Our elected officials should have called it for what it was, an act of war!
Unfortunately, Labor Unions are also the victim. Union members are severely divided between the Trumpers and the Never- Trumpers, between a woman’s choice and the right to life. Then there is the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms. What gets lost in the fog of war is that all Union Members have a prime directive, “Family First”. We are all in the same boat and we should all be rowing in the same direction. The Right to Bear Arms is one of the great Amendments to the Constitution, however, it does us no good if we do not make enough money to either afford a gun or to put food on the table. Union Members should make their political decisions based on which candidate is a friend of Labor and will ultimately help us support our families.
It has been 10 years now, there is no end in sight for this UN-Civil War that has torn the fabric of our society and affected all of us. It is said that most great societies destroy themselves from within. Perhaps our salvation may also come from within. We all have friends and family with opposing views. How we treat our friends and family who have strong opposing views in order to preserve our close relationships is the key. If we use civility, tolerance, Compromise, and love to achieve this goal, maybe we can extend this to our fellow citizens. In doing so, we may just save The Republic from ruin!
SAVE THE REPUBLIC!
Pete Marchese, Director of Operations
Union Built PC Inc.
Pete.marchese@unionbuiltpc.com