The election is a little over a month away. No matter the outcome, we will get a government to which a majority of the American people will not consent. This has been the case for many decades now, but the people's feelings seem to have gotten more intense. There seems to be an increasing perception within most factions that negotiations with their adversaries is pointless—that whatever it is they want from the government, they cannot get it by any nonviolent means.
Whether that perception is correct is beside the point. We are long past the point where any of the dominant political belligerents care whether their beliefs correspond with reality. The mere suggestion that reality could be anything different from what their dogma says it is, is construed as proof of evil intent by whoever makes the suggestion.
The war will begin in earnest as soon as the votes have been counted. We have seen only skirmishes so far, but there will be no way to avert a major escalation once the votes have been counted, and probably not even before then. No matter what outcome is announced on election night, it will probably start then. If Trump loses, his supporters will take to the streets and many will be armed. If Trump wins, his adversaries will take to the streets, and many of them will be armed.
There will be fatal confrontations. We will hear that the victims were engaged in peaceful protest and thus that the shootings or whatever were unjustified. The truth will be irrelevant. Like all the key terms in this debate, the word "peaceful" has been stripped of any useful meaning. Nothing means anything any more beyond whatever the speakers need it to mean in order to make their points.
Dialogue itself has become meaningless. That is one reason certain activists are right when they say the time for dialogue has passed, and it is now time for action. It is they who have made it so. Dialogue is about persuasion, but the activists no longer care about persuasion. They care about compulsion. If they can compel nonviolently, they will, but if they cannot, then they will not.
Next: Political fundamentalism
(This page last updated on Oct. 13, 2020.)