This is a multi part posting. I hope to take the reader through what led up to the new civil war, how it is progressing, and what we can do to win it once and for all.
Part 1: The Winds of War
The current civil war actually had its origins in the 1960s. The Supreme Court decision of Brown vs the Topeka School Board in 1954 combined with the passage of The Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act of 1963 and 1964, a first Civil War similarity, with Northern Democrats opposed to Southern Democrats. Democrat Party hypocrisy ruled the day as civil rights activists from the North came South to encourage voter registration and school integration while city schools in Democrat controlled large northern cities remained the most segregated in the country. The Viet Nam War was amped up by President Lyndon Johnson and opposition to the war mounted among college age students, when a draft lottery was begun.
Viet Nam was part of a former French colony called French Indochina. It was conquered by the Japanese during WW2, but France regained control after Japan was defeated. Indochina was caught up in a worldwide movement for independence and a gorilla war of mostly communist guerrillas ensued that resulted with the French being defeated at Dien Bien Phu. Indochina was then divided into the Kingdoms of Cambodia and Laos, and Republic of Viet Nam. Communist and non communist forces battled each other and an agreement was reach dividing Viet Nam into North Viet Nam (communist) and South Viet Nam, supposably democratic. The North was ruled by a Mao like dictator Ho Chi Min. The South had a series of elected but corrupt leaders. A civil war in the South between the government and Viet Cong (communists), who were aided by the North, began almost immediately. President Kennedy sent "military advisors" to help the South, but their number and role gradually increase until the Gulf of Tonkin event in which American warships were allegedly attacked by North Vietnamese vessels. Using this as an excuse, much like the sinking of the battleship Maine in Havana Harbor in 1898, American combat troops entered the war both against the Viet Cong and an infiltrating North Vietnamese Army. Our forces swelled to as many as 500K and ultimately we lost 50K soldiers. Until 1969, the war was run by Robert McNamara, the Secretary of Defense and Mc George Bundy, Under Secretary of State, two incompetents when it came to military strategy. General Westmoreland was the commander in the field and became their scapegoat for anything that went wrong. The two civilians running the war made many mistakes, telling the enemy where they would not attack, and thus allowing the North to concentrate its forces. (Sound familiar.)
The greatest anti war and anti draft sentiment came from college campuses and although college students were given a draft deferment, it ended when they graduated. This campus anti draft movement coincided with the so called fee speech movement and rioting on campuses with groups of leftist students seizing administration buildings. Much of Hollywood supported the students and the far left with actress Jane Fonda going to North Viet Nam and having her picture taken while sitting on a anti aircraft battery that was used to shoot down American pilots. Unfortunately, she was never arrested and tried for treason, and instead allowed to star in movies and sell exercise videos. Some Americas fled to Canada to avoid the draft. Violent demonstrators targeted the 1968 Democrat party Convention in Chicago, resulting in arrests and a trial of the "Chicago 12."
For some activists peaceful demonstrations were enough, but this leftist activity spurred two more violent movements, the Black Panthers and Students For a Democratic Society (SDS). The Black Panthers portrayed themselves as a sort of Robin Hood group, robbing banks and spreading some of the money around the black community. This provided them with goodwill and protection within the community, but they had gun fights with police and federal agents. Many were killed or arrested and went on trial and were convicted of a variety of crimes. SDS on the other hand sponsored demonstrations that may have become aggressive, but lacked serious criminality.
A personal account: in 1972 while a senior in medical school at St. Louis University, I heard of an anti Israel demonstration planned for the student union. (the left's hatred of Israel goes back a long way.) SLU is a Jesuit Catholic university and did not have an SDS chapter, but Washington University down the street did. WU also had a large jewish population, so when SDS decided to organize an anti Israel protest, it might find less opposition at the SLU. They rounded up 30 or so Arab and/or Palestinian students (?) from the St. Louis area and entered the student union chanting and carrying anti Israel signs, some comparing Israelis to Nazis with swatzikas. A classmate and I were there to meet them. We confronted them, tore away a sign and tried to run them out, The campus cops arrived just in time to keep any of them from getting hurt. Two Jews to thirty Palestinians seemed like pretty good odds to us.
Because SDS lacked a really violent arm, a group calling themselves the Weather Underground spun off from SDS, professing to be communist revolutionaries and began blowing up government buildings in Washington DC and police stations in New York City. and robbing banks Three of their own members died when a bomb making apartment in NYC accidentally blew up. Bill Ayers and his girl friend Bernadine Dohrn were two of the leaders. Ayers went into hiding and actually spent nearly a year at sea as a merchant seaman. When he was finally arrested he was released on a technicality. Dohrn actually spent a short time in prison. They married and became very good friends of the Obamas two decade later.
The war in Viet Nam and leftist unrest caused the economy to suffer. President Johnson took silver out of US coinage and eliminated the 25% gold backing that would limit the printing of money. President Nixon took us completely off the gold standard that allowed us to repay our foreign debts in paper rather than gold. By the end of the 1970s the stock market and the dollar had tanked and the government was issuing "Carter Bonds," denominated in Swiss Francs rather than dollars. Recognizing our weak leadership under President Carter, Iran took those in our embassy in Tehran hostage for 444 days.
During the 70s the educational system began to change. Liberal professors and college administrations began to dominate. The Democrat Party controlled almost every big city and were unable to provide adequate k-12 eduction as a result of their horrible policies. To make up for this, affirmative action was introduced at the college and graduate school level. Ethnicity became a significant factor in determining admissions. Years later the "free college" movement is affirmative action carried to its worst extreme.
With the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 things on the surface, at least, began to settle down but leftists and revolutionaries were still attacking our country below the surface. Although there was still disagreement between Republicans and Democrats the leadership actually found enough commonality to allow both sides to work together and so interest rates and unemployment dropped and the stock market rose, the economy improved, and taxes were lowered. Communism had run its course in Russia and Eastern Europe. But as the Iron Curtain began to fall, the Middle east was heating up. Civil War in Lebanon resulted in UN forces, lead by France and the US, arriving in Beirut to maintain peace in 1983. A Hezbollah suicide bomber drove a truck filled with explosives into a barracks and killed more than 200 marines. The US left Lebanon.
At home, the left continued its clandestine campaign to take over our educational system from kindergarten through college in order to indoctrinate our children. At colleges, history revisionism was begun, altering or ignoring our history to support a far left version. Black Studies were begun in many colleges, a good idea, but unfortunately at the forefront of ignoring or altering history to foster a far left vision for black students. Though slavery was a terrible period in our history, African Americans did much more than exist as slaves before the civil war. There were many who were not slaves, especially in the North, and who were regular citizens who contributed to their communities and to America, yet Black History courses seem to start after the Civil War.
To be continued:
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