While everyone is watching the world stage and some are predicting WWIII, isn't there a good chance that the USA is getting close to some kind of civil war?
While everyone is watching the world stage and some are predicting WWIII, isn't there a good chance that the USA is getting close to some kind of civil war?
All the ingredients are there and it won't take much to put it all together.
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Not really: for context, the civil rights movement in 50's and 60's was far more violent, like actually violent with military being called in across many American cities.
Civil wars happen when people are hungry, lack shelter and jobs. None of that is happening here right now. Protesting and rioting is nothing when people have homes to return to and McDonald's to pick up on the way home.
Uh, lots and lots of people are hungry, lack shelter and jobs. Almost 600,000 people in the US right now are unhoused, and one in eight homes are food insecure (roughly 44 million). The only area where the US is doing good right now is the unemployment rate, which is currently sitting at an ideal 3.7%.
As for causes of civil war, economic inequality plays a large role, as does political deprivation, both of which are rampant (you can thank late-stage capitalism for the first, and the far-right for the second). There are other factors at play, of course, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility for the US to go there.
600K people spread across the US really isn't that many to deal with. Even if they were all in one place, they wouldn't be able to do much damage to most of the country before being contained.
1 in 8 being food insecure also is not high enough. Choosing less nutritious food options is a measurement of it, so you could still be eating, just not good food because you live in the middle of a food desert. Most folks in the US are not food insecure.
You're going to have to tick that number up to over half of the US not being able to eat once a day or more. Like the depression, or worse, but without any government assistance.
Sure hungry and starving are different. A large portion of our homeless have mental or drug addiction issues. They need help, but they're not going to start a civil war.
However, the empirical evidence linking individual income inequality and civil conflict is mixed.
No one is starting a civil war because their boss makes 3 times what they do.
The price of McDonald's has virtually doubled over rhe last 4 years, for no reason but greed.
Ok...you going to start a civil war over it? Almost 50% of the USA is obese...no one here is starving enough to start a war.