![]() ![]() In an interview with NPR member station KPBS in San Diego a year ago, Walter said the Jan. Walter of the University of California at San Diego. The New York Times recently reviewed How Civil Wars Start by political scientist Barbara F. "Semi-automatic weapons comprise around 19.8 million in total," they add ominously, "making for a highly armed population with potentially dangerous capabilities." How many? They cite the National Shooting Sports Foundation's estimate of 434 million firearms in civilian possession in the U.S. "America has an extraordinary number of guns and private militias," they write. ![]() What do people even mean by "civil war"? Let us assume it would not be a return to the 1860s, when 11 Southern states left the Union and fought a four-year war to assert their right to do so and preserve the practice of slavery, which had about 4 million African Americans in bondage at the time.Īnd what do these careful scholars mean by "extraordinary means"? Talk is often cheap, and pollsters can ask a lot of provocative questions in pursuit of something noteworthy - or buzzworthy. According to the Post, just about 1 American in 10 held that view in the 1990s.ĭo the respondents in all these polls fully realize what these terms mean or their answers imply? Possibly not. Late last year, the University of Maryland and The Washington Post produced a poll saying that one-third of Americans thought violence against the government was "sometimes justified" - a belief they found even more widely held among Republicans and independents. The more one hears this particular drumbeat, the louder it becomes. And a quarter thought at least one state would secede. Last month, the Institute of Politics at Harvard's Kennedy School published a poll that found half of voting age Americans under 30 thought our democracy was "in trouble" or "failing." A third also said they expected there to be "a civil war" within their lifetimes. ![]() ![]() Researchers have found such downbeat assessments of America's democracy are especially salient among the young. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |