Is the United States headed for a Civil War?

In my opinion, no. If you review our history, we go through phases where we are in Constitutional crisis. This current phase is a Constitutional crisis, and not grounds for Civil war.

That said, we always face the possibility of being undermined from within, through a combination of loopholing lawyers, abuse of powers, and simple lack of education regarding the roles we've assigned to the various positions in our government. All participants in our governments have their assigned roles, with some of those roles defined by Constitution. However, the folks elected to those roles are not always elected because of their understanding of what their role is, but rather because they win the popularity contest.

For most elected positions there are no hard reqirements defining the qualifications to hold the position other than age.

I think we could be headed toward a sort of social revolution, similar to the civil rights and the anti-imperialism movement of the 60s. The abolitionists of the early United States were hated and vilified by the mainstream, particularly in the American south. But with the entire civilized world having abolished slavery by the mid-19th Century, most American political leaders knew the practice would have to go away.It took many decades, but the abolitionists won their fight and are today remembered as heroes.

The struggle of the 21st Century in the US is between those who want to spend our taxes on healthcare/education/welfare and those who want to spend our taxes on war and prisons. The progressives and anti-imperialists are the abolitionists of the 21st Century. The rest of the civilized countries in the world offer healthcare to their citizens and manage minimal military budgets.

Once again, the US is behind the world in social progress. Once again, it is the American southern states that stand against human compassion and the fostering of education and objective reasoning to build a good society.

I doubt that there will ever be another significant uprising in this country. At most, there would be tiny little guerilla operations which would cause the government to round up suspected enemies of the state or "unlawful enemy combatants" as illustrated in the Military Commissions Act of 2006. Best case scenario, we go back to the way things were a couple of decades in the past.

Worst, and most likely, case scenario, the government becomes ever more facist and grants more authority to police agencies, causing a minimal amount of controllable dissent in the populous, but ultimately galvinizing their power. Expect to see more legislation similar to the Military Commissions Act and PATROT Act. Don't think that it can't happen here; that's what they thought in Germany circa 1936.

Sadly, the preponderance of the American public were well-trained in public school to be docile sheep and will sit idly by.

Good, thought provoking question. Personally I would say that there is little liklihood of a Civil War occurring across the US. The Revolution, which may be considered as a civil war, and the Civil War of 1861-65, had particular causes.

For the Revolution, home rule if not independence and the states rights or slavery question for the Civil War. You mention several questions of difference and as Pintoman says even those divisive questions in turn divide people. In general the US Constitution is based on pragmatism, common sense, compromise and right thinking.

There are times when the country has divided into camps for or against on many subjects, there is then a lot of noise and finger pointing and then the good sense kicks in and people begin generally to work towards a common goal. With all that the world has gone through in the last decade, the US has held strong, some nations have seen near or actual revolutions on their streets and gone to the brink of chaos. We see the right to be different in many ways as a good thing, I don't have to think as you do and I have no right to impose my thoughts on you.

We can however agree to discuss, debate and persuade, and come to a common agreement to agree or disagree. In the end this releases the pressure which might over spill into fighting.

I think we have more problems now than when the Declaration of Independence was written. But who would fight whom? Our civil war had one dividing issue; state's rights.

Now we have several problems that divide us but I may be in one camp with you on one issue, and in another camp against you on another issue. What we need is Representatives that will follow the Constitution and limit courts to following the Constitution. Easier said than done.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.