I agree with you, the Democrats aren't going to reform anything, even if they wanted to (and they don't).

A financial collapse seems inevitable at this point, Balkanization may be a very good thing. There's no need for a civil war, we're nicely divided already and have functioning state governments that will quickly replace the Federals. That's best case scenario.

Worst case scenario? Civil War II, but really, "The South" has even less of a chance of winning now. This seems unlikely. Best to just cut them off and stop propping up their miserable states, within a generation or two they will learn that they need us (coastal cities) far more than we need them.

Jesus isn't going to come save the day, no matter what The Christian Broadcasting Network says.

This is related to why I'm so nervous about teaching social studies next year. Can anyone help me think about how to teach US history without shoving a bunch of propaganda down middle school throats?

Last time US suffered the pains of war in their land was late 1860's. I believe American politics are stuck in that era.

I think you're right

I would vote for a candidate that begins the process of devolving the Union so we can eventually divorce into separate countries. I think we are doomed for civil war either way. As a Californian, when they're doing stuff like systematically disenfranchising us, withholding our Medicaid dollars and attacking our public universities despite us contributing more to the treasury than we take back, it's hard to feel like an American. I'd prefer to be a citizen of California than share a country with these freaks. Winning elections won't make me feel any better after seeing how they despise and want to destroy us.

I've always believed that we were living through the collapse of the American Hegemony, but I could never describe the system until I read about the Imperial Boomerang and the Five Phase Lifecycle which captures the US' expansionist policies post WW2. Except we never needed war, we had the petrodollar.

The problem when you have a system that centralized, you have one major factor, and then the inability to grow leads to the empire turning within with its expansionist policies towards its people. Its the perfect system to have an incompetent boob turn cruel. And once that happens, everyone senses something wicked on the horizon. Soft power with allies completely vanishes. New allegiances are forged. A new hyperpower emerges. And the most defensive behavior is to protect your own interests -- which accelerate the inevitable collapse.

The US is a very big country, and any future shape will have it more like a confederation -- either officially in its successor states, or more likely by Balkanization. Whether or not its the New America we want, well, I'm not that clairvoyant.

I hope this makes sense, I'm not a political expert. All I am certain of, in my gut, is that Trump is the final manifestation of the decline phase, and this is the final act. The Roman empire went through many drastic 'collapses' in its span, this doesn't mark the end of America, but of the current post-WW2 hegemony? The one driven by the GI Bill and Technological progress? We aren't coming back from this.

There won't be real reforms from Democrats because they're complicit and invested in the system staying exactly as it is. Just "nicer."

I think the United States as we knew it is dying. I feel no kinship with the MAGA nor the Epstein Class, my desire to be kind and fair towards that lot has long since evaporated. Odds are, many folks in Tennessee and Minneapolis feel the same.