With an almost fatalistic apprehension I look forward to this November and the impending presidential election. While every passing day and divisive primary vote seems to ensure President Obama’s re-election, the stratification between the two dominant parties in American politics betrays the essential dissolution of the Union that at this point also seems almost inevitable.

Maybe I’m jaded or under a false impression, but just today I finished watching Ken Burns’ “The Civil War,” and it has me thinking that the undeniable parallels of 1861 America and the current trend in American politics may be a catalyst for a second divided nation.

Let’s look at the facts. In the last four years, the Tea Party movement in America has gained and lost traction as a “voice of the people” political action group, which roughly translates to motivated if misguided citizens and politicians who at least have the gumption to get legislation passed (no matter how poorly planned it may be). One of their biggest platforms, and one shared by even the moderates of the right-wing, is the dominance of states’ rights over federal authority, not unlike the Confederate South.

While most of the ostentatious belligerence that reaches headlines is just talk, or at worst the momentum behind legislation that ultimately gets shot down, the utter recklessness of would-be cowboys who wield personal beliefs in some of the highest offices of this country, as opposed to representing their constituents, is little better than, say, living under the shadow of the bomb during the Cold War. But thanks to that particular American invention, the likelihood of another civil war is slim, as atomic ordinance has become the uneasy peacemaker of our times and in the end, mutually assured destruction as a tactic for desperate people to get their way isn’t exactly out of the question (see also: North Korea until last month).

Then again we have media saturation to sedate the masses and the relatively few people who care enough to bluster about the megalithic government and the micro-managing bureaucracy aren’t usually military grade in terms of age or physical fitness. The sad truth is that while the idea of war is abominable, the ability to aggress or defend indicates sovereignty equally with economic power and industry. While the United States still has a large military and countless private military companies to choose from, modern conditioning techniques negate the ideological self-determination that builds the type of armies that fought from World War II back through history. Perhaps that’s a good thing, as making good on the “kill them all” rhetorical ubiquitous to Facebook, Twitter and Odd Future tracks would be problematic (also morally and ethically repulsive, but who cares about “morals” and “ethics” these days anyway?).

In the end, it’s probably just a conspiracy theory without substance, but the polarity of people’s ideas today and the willpower of some individuals and groups makes their actions highly unpredictable. Add in catalytic issues like the greatest deficit in history and an atavistic urge towards revolution and anything is possible. Without some serious bipartisan compromise and perhaps more beer summits than filibusters, the gap between the radicals of the right and left will stretch further to a point of which collapse will no longer be theoretical but definite.

I would say the best course of action is to become informed and vote on more nuanced platforms than single issues and party lines, but it probably wouldn’t do much good. The idea of voting with your conscience nowadays has incredibly mixed results, and the reliance on our two-party mode of politics yields unpalatable candidates on both sides. So vote third party, preferably the craziest person on the ticket.

— Jake Lane is a graduate in creative writing. He can be reached at [email protected].