On or about March 12, 2016, there was violence on the campaign trail. I do not now recall exactly where. Violence during a presidential campaign is not unheard of, but at that date and at the intensity of the event that involved numerous people being bloodied, it was unusual. It seemed to be a harbinger of things to come and a trend that would build. That has been the case in the interval since and there is more to come.
The following essay was originally published at Simplepagebylee/Opinion. Now as the race closes down to the last days, the scenario I paint is more relevant than ever. I only emphasize that it doesn’t matter who wins the election. Either way, some version of this story will manifest. Both sides have notable contingents that will make war on the other.
The electorate unleashed
“It’s 11:15 PM on Sunday, January 22, 2017. The sounds of sirens are screaming in the distance. I’m in the town of Bel Air, MD, population over ten thousand but double or triple that in the extended zip codes. There is police activity a couple miles away as two crowds confront one another. There were reports of gunfire about an hour ago. This is a big deal here as there hasn’t been unrest here like that in the living memory of most. I hear there was some kind of disturbance in the 60s. As wild as it sounds, this is pretty tame compared to what’s going on around the rest of the country. Four major cities are in lockdown. DC is practically under siege but under control only by the presence of tanks and what seems like a whole brigade of military guard. This has been building leading up to the election. There was the rhetoric of course, more strident then usual for a presidential race but the election still happened as planned. It started in the rank and file. There were small fights earlier this year. Small fights turned into big fights, more and more security forces at events. On election night the results were contested hours even before the claim to victory. Between then and now, twelve states won’t even recognize the results. Last week, three more states announced plans to take similar votes in their assemblies. I don’t even know the results yet. In a way it doesn’t matter. The war has already begun. As far as I can tell there are at least three maybe four sides all announcing their right to independence but of course that doesn’t count the ones siding with the election. The president, or presumed president has been on TV three times today with calls for peace but also threats. I’m not sure how well that’s going to go. How do you send the national guard to put down a thousand small to medium flashpoints all over the country at the same time. Most of them dissolve and reform in a new place a couple hours later. It’s the ones that are more disciplined and are biding their time that look like they’ll cause a lot more problems. The word on the street is that they have some serious plans in the works. Forget about the sheriff and police departments. They’re pretty much following their state or town but what’s more troublesome is the ones that have already split with their departments with service guns and all, even some squad cars. All I can say is this isn’t going to end well. Washington speaks and in the two days since the inauguration, everyone one has pretty much decided not to listen. There doesn’t seem to be anything happening in our exact community yet but you know how that’s going to go. I’m ready as I can be.”
Does this sound scary? This can be your candidate, it could be the other one. It really doesn’t matter. Whatever you do, don’t blame that other one for this mess. The reason this story reflects the state of a crumbling government is because it reflects the state of the whole electorate right now. This is what both parties now look like in the underbelly. This is the logical extension of events today.
March 12, 2016