The Biggest Threat To American Security

60 Minutes aired a segment tonight in which seaport security expert, Stephen Flynn, claims, "The number one national security challenge to confront us is a weapon of mass destruction going off in a U.S. city".

I can't deny that terrorists planting a dirty bomb in a cargo container is a big thing to worry about, but I find myself worrying more about what we Americans are doing to ourselves. I worry about a coming complete breakdown of civility and unity among citizens of the United States. If my occasional fears that America is moving towards a second civil war are exaggerated, I'm not going too far in fearing that political idealogues are doing an effective job of manipulating us all into choosing sides in a civil cold war.

David R. Remer writes about America's civil breakdown from a liberal point of view: Religion - America's 2nd Civil War

What if the Fundamentalist Right is successful in overturning Roe V. Wade, or reinstating the Sedition Acts, or mandating the Lord's Prayer in public schools? What if, at the same time, both sides are 'recruiting' through news media coverage of violence and pitched emotional infomercials denigrating each other? [...] The first Civil War was decades in the coming. News traveled far more slowly, and dissemination of the issues and their divides were hampered by illiteracy, and the slow speed of paper printed publications. America's second Civil War, if it occurs, could come upon us as fast as the internet, and before we are aware things had gotten so bad.

If you care about keeping America safe, do everything you can to resist those who want to divide our society. Resist putting politics above treating your fellow human beings with dignity and respect.