When the democrats regain power, I want blood.

[summer_in_TX]

172. The trick will be accountability that is thorough, firm and fair.

The punishment that the West delivered to Germany after WWI created resentment that was easy to exploit and was a root cause of WWII.

Similarly after Lincoln's assassination, Vice-President Johnson treated the South harshly and allowed the carpetbaggers to exploit and profiteer, creating a backlash of festering resentment that is playing out still to this day.

On the other hand, after the end of WWII we had accountability with the Nuremberg Trials and generosity with the Marshall Plan, and did not have the backlash.

Truth and Reconciliation is one model to definitely consider. The single most important thing to deal with (and the most difficult, in my opinion) is unraveling the FOXNews/RW talk radio/Breitbart/Alec Jones etc. propaganda system, and deprogramming those who have been systematically brainwashed.

Today in a Twitter thread someone pointed out that "It’s [FOXNews is] a fully fascist psy ops front now, the goal being to dehumanize opponents and create scapegoats for enemies of America. That’s the first step. The second is this providing alleged justification for killing them." I had not put that together until he said it, but that seemed to me to nail it. Listening to Rush two decades ago made me realize that if my liberal views could be seen like skin color or certain facial features could, that I was likely to be targeted. Made me think then of Nazi Germany and the Jews forced to wear their yellow stars. I'm white, but those who not white probably feel far more anxious than I do right now, and I've been rather anxious since that first encounter with Rush ranting about feminazis and the liberals who were against everything good about this country.

I sense the level of their rage (now fomented for decades) mixed with our own righteous anger makes for a very volatile and dangerous situation. Disturbingly, over the course of this last year I've witnessed our own tendency to dehumanize their side too in reaction to Trump's election. An actual civil war seems quite possible these days. I pray that wisdom and good will prevail.

Those who are reaching out to listen and connect across the chasm yawning between left and right these days, like Sarah Silverman, the People's Table, and Better Angels where marriage and family counselors use their skills to facilitate dialog and relationship between the sides, are doing critical work that may help us get through this perilous time without a bloody civil war.