What a Revolution or Civil War Entails

A lot of people seem eager for a revolution or a civil war, thinking it will cleanse the United States of all of our social problems and get rid of perceived enemies.

And everyone who is itching for a civil war or revolution in this country seems to think that their side will easily win. 

The vast majority of the people who seem to think this way are the far right, given that they are the ones attempting to start a civil war in Kenosha and Portland in spite of controlling the presidency and much of the government around the United States. But their objectives are crystal clear. They want to commit mass murder of anyone who does not conform to their blood and soil ideals. That means people of color, LGBT people, urban Americans, and so many others. They want cities to burn, including my home of Saint Paul.

I would be remiss, however, if I did not mention their accomplices in violence and chaos on the far left—the same people who are operating under the premise that even chaos and violence will somehow allow them to destroy the current social order, destroy capitalism, and guillotine rich people. Unfortunately, I know too many people who operate like this. 

What everyone here seems not to understand—unlike those who have actually experienced violence or revolutions—is what they actively entail. 

A history lesson is in order.

What the American Revolutionary War Cost the Americans Who Fought It

People frequently turn to the American Revolutionary War for inspiration on why a revolution would be a good or easy thing.

What is not mentioned is just how costly throwing off British Colonial rule was for the thirteen colonies. The Continental Army took heavy losses throughout the war thanks to combat, disease, and starvation. Throughout the war, your average colonial soldier was freezing, starving, or otherwise quite sick.

Infrastructure was torn to pieces, and the colonial economy was in ruins. The Continental Congress was up to its eyes in debt.

The American Revolution was anything but cheap or easy. Keep in mind, by historical standards, the American Revolution ended pretty well. I say that still taking into account the horrors of slavery and the genocide of the Indigenous peoples. 

The French Revolution ended with an even worse monarch—one who attempted to bring slavery back to Haiti—than the one who lost his head (literally); the Russian Revolution ended with an even worse totalitarian regime than the one it replaced. 

Revolutions tend to end quite badly from a historical perspective.

What Civil Wars and Revolutions Entail

They entail the complete breakdown of civil society. That means essential public services stop working, basic goods like food and medicine become much harder to find or purchase, and your likelihood of dying a violent death goes through the roof. 

If you are a woman or girl, your already (disturbingly) high chances of being raped go up sky high. Sexual violence, especially against women and girls is a fact of revolutions and civil wars. 

Better yet, ask immigrants from Central America, Cuba, Southeast Asia, or, in the case of the Twin Cities, East Africa (especially the women) why they left behind everything they knew, why they were willing to risk so much to flee a revolution or civil war. 

Civil wars and revolutions leave even the winners severely wounded in the aftermath. Take, for example, the Syrian Civil War. 

Even though the Assad regime has won at this point, the war damaged them enormously. Tens of thousands of their soldiers are dead, and the country is in ruins. Like Trump, they had to turn to Russia for help just to win. 

So for any far-left or far-right agitators itching for a civil war or revolution, here’s the reality: it will end very badly for you. 

It is telling that so many who fantasize about revolution or civil war are white men with very little, if any, experience of being on the receiving end of real violence or understanding of social sciences. 

I am a white man myself, so maybe I am wrong about this, but it seems peak white male privilege to look forward to violence for its own sake instead of dreading it or working to avoid it. 

So I implore everyone to do what they can to avoid a civil war or revolution. 

Because we are on the edge of one.