Cameron Smith: Bipartisan fears of civil war stoked in human soup

This is an opinion column

If we don’t win this election, America as we know it is over. We are in an election for the heart and soul of our nation. I’m not sure America can recover if [INSERT CANDIDATE] isn’t elected. As the scarred survivor of many historic American elections, I assure you that prognostications of our national demise are premature.

The hot tub at my local gym is a font of political wisdom. There’s nothing quite like being slowly cooked in a fancy pot of human soup that leads to talking. The talking inevitably shifts to politics, and the politics are dark.

“Don’t you think we’re closer to civil war than we’ve been in generations?” posed an older man who may well have fought in the War Between the States. “No, sir.” I quickly replied. The other occupants of the tub were aghast. How could I not possess such common knowledge and simultaneously carry myself as a student of politics? Immediately the waters boiled with concerns that America is beyond the point of no return.

“Who would you shoot first?” I asked.

Silence. Even the water went still. I assume the question was the cause, but it could have also been the timer. Thankfully, a gentleman emerged to press the button which got the bubbles and conversation going again. “What do you mean?” he queried.

In any war worth its salt, people kill each other over some sort of disagreement. Civil wars are no exception. We must know who we want to shoot and why.

Clearly those assembled in the hot tub weren’t the fighting kind. They had no intention of shooting anyone. They were concerned, however, that other people quite upset about politics might unexpectedly open fire. While I too am watchful for nondescript homicidal neighbors, I asked why our fellow Americans might resort to violence.

“America has gone woke!” one man piped up. “We’re taxing and spending like we’re drunk.” blurted another. “Washington doesn’t care about us.”

I conceded all of those points, but I still wanted to know who should be shot in response to those concerns. After much discussion and a few additions and subtractions to the soup pot, we determined that we’d be far better off voting current politicians out of office than killing them or the voters who supported them.

Predictably, there’s a liberal in every hot tub ready to explain how former President Donald Trump is a dog whistling threat to democracy. One of the new soakers pointed to the January 6th attacks on the Capitol and asked how I could simply ignore such behavior.

I don’t. That day was a blight on America. Those who committed crimes should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I answered his question, and he still didn’t answer mine.

“Who would you shoot?” I asked again. As it turned out, he wouldn’t shoot a soul. As mad as he was, he thought we needed more gun regulation, not less. He explained how we need to keep the guns out of the hands of the crazies.

He was a nice fellow, but he’s definitely not going to last in the pending civil war.

I can only assume that the heat got to me, because I could have sworn that I was in the company of both Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, and nobody was willing to shoot anyone. They weren’t even willing to wing someone a bit.

All of them remained concerned about those not in the hot tub who were most assuredly willing to go to war.

Sane Americans aren’t going to shoot each other in a rage caused by social media, cable news, and opportunistic politicians. I’d much rather go to the polls and cast a vote than take up arms against my fellow Americans. Most Americans feel the same way.

Yes, there are deranged individuals who commit horrific acts of violence, but that’s materially different in nature than a war.

The temperature of American political discourse is every bit as hot as a gym jacuzzi. The manufactured outrage gives us the feeling that the end is near. More specifically, political narratives scare us. When we’re afraid, we surrender our reason to blindly support politicians who will protect us from all the bad things, including our shadowy homicidal neighbors.

Fear is our true enemy, and it cannot be shot. We can however recognize the voices, outlets, and content whipping us into a fury.

And we can ignore them.

America’s genius is a society that agrees to solve our conflicts without bloodshed.

As bad as the Capitol attacks were, we should think of them in a different light. In 2020, the incumbent president of the United States lost an election and hasn’t stopped lying about it since. If the polling is to be believed, Trump has convinced two thirds of the GOP that he was the rightful winner. Yet he left office, and we haven’t had a war. Either Republicans don’t really believe Trump, or they’re solidly dedicated to the civil resolution of political conflict.

I’m not suggesting that we’re in a good place as a nation. We’re worn out, ticked off, and tweaking on technology. As rough as it gets, most of us understand the existential gravity of looking a man in the face and taking his life for any reason. Even where the cause is both specific and just, we have countless examples of men and women in the military and law enforcement who are traumatized by taking life.

America doesn’t have to be done just yet. Decline is a choice, not an inevitability. Remember what it’s like to have real human relationships not filtered through a screen. Go outside, sit in a hot tub, have a conversation. Like the gym jacuzzi, the frothy outrage will die out if we only stop pushing buttons.

Smith is a recovering political attorney with four boys, two dogs, a bearded dragon, and an extremely patient wife. He’s a partner in a media company, a business strategy wonk, and a regular on talk radio. Please direct outrage or agreement to [email protected] or @DCameronSmith on X or @davidcameronsmith on Threads.

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