The geographical lines are largely the same. Slavery is no longer the top-line issue, but the ideological lines date back to the Declaration of Independence. These are people with a deep antipathy towards each other, forcibly united by the necessity of fending off their original colonial host.

They never trusted each other or liked each other. Much of the sloganeering puts that front-and-center. We'd never have to make our national motto "Of many, one" if we actually believed it. We created our indoctrination oath after the Civil War, forcing children to repeat that they were "one nation indivisible". They say it in the hopes that they'll come one day to believe it -- and the message was later deliberately obscured by cramming "under God" ungrammatically into the middle of it.

It's exactly the same Civil War as it was the first time, a war running hot and cold since fourscore-and-seven years before the "Civil War" was underway. It's remarkable that the cease-fire has lasted this long.

I don't give a damn what people think. When they start threatening my safety because they're not getting their way, that's when it's a problem.