Many American citizens today have a curious notion that the US is near to bursting into a “second civil war.” I spend a few minutes each day prowling in social media forums and each day there are 20 or so new questions asking variations on the “second civil war” theme.

I find this curious and odd. I also find it ridiculous. Because the reasoning of the people who ask the questions is, America is really divided now so . . . war!

That is silly, because waging a war requires a very strong sense of unity and commitment to a cause. The US in 2021 is much too divided to erupt in war. Today the nation is split along many different lines. There is enmity between the two political parties. But within each party there is tension. On the left, idealistic progressives despise liberals. On the right, reactionaries despise the so-called RINOs.

Social justice is riven between those who would focus on the long-overdue fairness for black citizens, and those who want to move LGBTQ interests to the front of the line. This is no joke. I’ve heard first-hand reports of a Black Lives Matter rally getting co-opted by a Trans-Rights activist.

American universities are eager to take decisive action on social issues. But the universities are focused on their own elite and privileged sphere. They frame oppression in terms of the time it takes a minority professor to earn tenure, and forget that there are people in American who are genuinely suffering.

In June, 1858, Abraham Lincoln was running for a US senate seat. He gave a famous speech to an audience in Springfield, Illinois that has been remembered as his “House Divided” speech. In that speech, Lincoln said:

In my opinion, [the country’s troubles] will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached, and passed.
"A house divided against itself cannot stand."
I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.
I do not expect the Union to be dissolved -- I do not expect the house to fall -- but I do expect it will cease to be divided.
It will become all one thing or all the other.

The audience disliked what Lincoln said so much that it cost him the senate race. But later on, when strong leadership was needed, people remember that Lincoln had not flinched in ‘58.

If you’re interested, the part about the house divide came at the beginning of the speech. The greater part of the speech listed the ways in which the pro-slavery faction was gaining power. Lincoln accused his opponent, Steven Douglas, of poor leadership and a dishonesty. You can read the speech here.

The point for us today, though, is that Lincoln’s “house” or country was divided on one issue only. There was no way to resolve the slavery question to the satisfaction of everyone. But there was no second issue that the nation was split on. Relations with Europe? How to deal with Indians on the western frontier? How much government money to spend on railroads? Those were all issues that people could discuss and compromise on. It was only slavery — and especially how slavery would be determined in territories and new states — that split the nation.

In 2021, the US is so split on so many issues that it couldn’t descend into a civil war if it wanted to. Please take solace in that fact, if you can!