A second American Revolution?

By J.R. Nyquist

In 1976 James F. Dunnigan designed a game entitled, “Minuteman: The
Second American Revolution.” Billed as a future-history simulation, the
game was meant to be a realistic model of an uprising within the United
States around the year 2020. With a subtle if not stylish left-of-center
slant typical of Dunnigan’s games, the cause of America’s future
uprising was attributed to “pauperization.” In other words, the rich
get richer and the poor get poorer. Now that we’ve entered the year
2000, we might ask if this idea about a future revolution in America has
any validity.

In his “historical notes” Dunnigan attributes America’s future
revolution to three things that were greatly feared in the mid-to-late
1970s when the “Minuteman” game was designed: 1) ever diminishing
supplies of “non-replenishable natural resources,” especially oil; 2)
America’s enormous public debt; 3) global cooling which would hurt the
world’s food production.

Today, of course, we no longer live in fear that the earth’s
resources are running low, and since Republicans have taken both houses
of Congress the public debt crisis seems to be under control (for the
moment). As for global cooling, the latest environmentalist craze
insists the world is getting warmer.

Despite the collapse of Dunnigan’s fiscal and environmentalist
assumptions, his idea of a second American Revolution in 2020 might not
be far from the mark. But the causes of this future revolution — or
civil war — would be different from those guessed at in 1976.

Revolutionary rhetoric has already appeared in our midst. An example
of violent revolutionary propaganda can be found on the website of the
Viper Militia, which quotes from the notorious “Turner Diaries” by
stating, “We are at war with our government, and it is no longer a war
of words.” The Viper Militia website openly incites its visitors to
violence, proclaiming, “It’s time for war! Take up arms! Destroy the
enemy! Kill! Kill! Kill!”

Although nobody is rushing forward to blow up more federal buildings
or assault Washington, D.C., the animus is real. Americans are divided
on a number of fundamental issues. It is my suspicion that these issues
can be boiled down to a single philosophical question. It is the
question of religious faith versus non-belief.

When a believer looks at the world, he sees a creation. And that
means a creator. When an atheist looks at the world, he sees evidence of
gradual evolution through natural selection and genetic variation. The
two points of view are irreconcilable. They produce totally different
perspectives on public policy and law. And there is no genuine middle
ground between the two positions. Either human beings were created by
intelligent design, or they are the accidental product of a godless
process. Between these two cosmologies there can be no compromise. It is
either the one or the other.

In ancient times most battles were fought under the banner of
city-state patriotism. Civil wars were fought between factions vying for
power. The ancient pagans, believing in a plurality of gods, shared a
similar religious outlook. But with the destruction of paganism and the
rise of Christianity and Islam, men began to fight over differing ideas
about God. There was a violent struggle between Christians and Muslims
for many centuries. In the 1600s there was a civil war within
Christianity between Catholics and
Protestants.

Religious wars are fought over the nature of the cosmos and its
creator. Such wars are violent and ideological. In America today, the
danger of civil war stems from a split between believers and
non-believers more than it does from social conditions, though these
might aggravate existing tensions.

When a traditional religious believer looks at abortion, he sees
murder. When an atheist or secularist looks at abortion, he sees a
medical operation undertaken for convenience.

When a traditional religious believer looks at homosexuality, he sees
something loathsome. When an atheist or secularist looks at
homosexuality, he sees a lifestyle preference.

When a traditional religious believer sees prayer in a public school,
he sees something helpful to society’s moral order. When an atheist or
secularist looks at prayer in school, he sees a dangerous and
unconstitutional act of oppression.

There is a huge disagreement in our society about basic social
organization — about education, reproduction and marriage. This
disagreement has led to legal battles in America’s courts. There is no
doubt that the atheists, supposedly in a minority position, have won
battle after battle.

What was understood as right and proper for centuries has suddenly
been overturned. Here we find a revolution more fundamental than
politics. It is a social and moral revolution.

It seems that the centers of power in our country have been captured
by anti-traditionalists, secularists and people who don’t believe in
God. Of course, our leading officials do give lip service to religion,
especially during elections, but for all practical purposes our
government has become atheistical.

There is another connection here, which is not often talked about.
Our latter-day atheists, perhaps influenced by Karl Marx, tend to be
internationalists rather than nationalists. It almost seems, at moments,
that their project is not merely to undermine religion in the country,
but to undermine the nation-state — to destroy America itself.

For some modern thinkers the nation-state is an agent of war and
imperialism. Nationalism is no longer fashionable. We do not have
military parades as before. Nationalism is not even encouraged in the
public schools, any more than prayer is encouraged. The legacy of
America, as taught today, is said to be one of slavery and the colonial
oppression of native peoples. There has even been talk of ridding the
calendar of Columbus Day — since Columbus was the first white oppressor
to arrive in the New World.

If we look at the impetus behind internationalism we find its
arguments often dovetail with those of the atheists. We find a curious
link, in Marxist theory, between the two ideas that are under assault.
These ideas are God and country.

It would seem that God and country, as a formula, belong together. It
is unclear why this should be until we realize that today’s social
revolutionaries aim to supplant Western civilization with something
entirely new and untried. In order to do this they must destroy the
pillars of the existing social order, which are Christianity and the
nation-state system. Along the way, the role of white males are
attacked, along with traditional motherhood.

If a second American Revolution is going to occur, it will be fought
along the lines outlined above. It will not be fought because of global
cooling or public debt or a scarcity of non-replenishable natural
resources. It will be fought between those who favor abortion and
homosexual marriage, and those who wish to preserve the traditional
Christian family. It will be fought between those who wish to defend God
and country against those who have no belief in God and no loyalty to
any country.

We all should hope that a civil war or revolution could be avoided.
But its vague outline is with us today.

J.R. Nyquist

J.R. Nyquist, a WorldNetDaily contributing editor and a renowned expert in geopolitics and international relations, is the author of "Origins of the Fourth World War." Visit his news-analysis and opinion site, JRNyquist.com. Read more of J.R. Nyquist's articles here.