Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

For democracy to work there needs to be a significant overlapping of shared values & expectations. Compromise is possible because the extremes of the spectrum aren't that far apart but when they extend too far apart, that eventually leads to Civil War. When The South seceded, they were physically separated & contiguous, and could execute physical war but that will never be repeated. Geography is no longer important. The new South is virtual and this metaphorical Civil War is virtual too, and it's happening right now in our echo-chamber news reporting, Social Network culture, reality TV hero worship, and omni-information gathering. If you don't like "feminist" news, filter it from your news-feed, only watch Fox, live in the bubble. Same with the socialists: if you don't like “guns,” claim you have moral authority, watch MSNBC, set Huffington Post as your main page, listen only to other sanctimonious blather that demonizes the Right & casts them as less than human. This conflict can be described in modern terms as a virtual Civil War.

An indication that we are in a virtual Civil War and have diverged as a nation is the total polarization of congress such that they operate out on the extreme boundaries of the rules: The Patriot Act, Judicial fiat, and presidential proclamations; with the FCC, Supreme Court and other rule-making institutions as the battlegrounds: climate-deniers, the NSA, militarized police, budget cliffs, government deficits, almost the entire range of government services under attack, and lots of cover from lawmakers, economists, and judges, the foot-soldiers in the virtual Civil War.