This year we commemorate the sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) of the beginning of the Civil War.   Our bloodiest political and military conflict lasted four years and produced 620,000 deaths.  If that figure were translated to today it would be in the neighborhood of 6.2 million fatalities!  The Civil War is one of the most heavily written about, debated, and analyzed events in human history.  In his 2010 work, The Grand Design:  Strategy and the U.S. Civil War (Oxford University Press), U.S. Naval War College historian Donald Stoker cites another historian's 2002 research maintaining that 60,000 books had been published on the Civil War and another 6,000 books had been published on Abraham Lincoln. (p. 1). These figures have undoubtedly increased since then and been augmented by films, documentaries, novels, and countless Internet resources of varying credibility.

The Civil War affected vast areas of the United States at that time and its impact endures to the present in terms of political beliefs and economic development.  Other countries have experienced the bloody crucible of civil wars such as England, France, the former Soviet Union, China, the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Iraq, Afghanistan, and internecine conflicts in Libya and Syria also demonstrate the horrific nature of these conflicts to contemporary audiences.  Slavery and secession were the two key drivers responsible for plunging the U.S. into this conflict.  Extremists on both sides, including militant abolitionist terrorists such as John Brown and rabid defenders of the morally bankrupt and economically ruinous institution of slavery fanned the flames of this conflict and American reaped the whirlwind.  Although the Union was providentially victorious, its sense of victory was tempered by the tragic assassination of President Abraham Lincoln who courageously and doggedly guided the U.S. through its greatest trial and preserved the Union.  The trauma of reconstruction and the lingering impact of Jim Crow in the south also demonstrated the enduring and horrid legacy of racial conflict on our national psyche and the personal lives of so many Americans.

Besides the torrent of literature, there are numerous sites where one can visit and see the impact of the war.  Federal agencies such as the National Park Service and many state government and private sector organizations help preserve civil war battlefields and historic sites.  I've been privileged to visit Gettysburg, Antietam, Manassas, the Wilderness, Perrysville, Stones River, Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Sabine Pass.  This year my wife and I will get the opportunity to visit battlefields such as Wilson's Creek in Missouri and Pea Ridge in Arkansas.  Visiting Civil War sites is a humbling experience all Americans should take advantage of and studying the Civil War should be a regular part of school curriculum and adult education lifelong learning.

The Civil War kept the United States from pursing further territorial expansion in the aftermath of the Mexican War which might have yielded desirable dividends in terms of acquiring high quality land in Canada or even natural resources in Mexico or the Caribbean.   Despite having individually brave warriors and resolute military leaders like Robert E. Lee, a victorious South would not have been a viable country.  Southern political and military leaders quarreled incessantly, were extremely petty, and possessed an exaggerated sense of personal honor that would not be equaled until the advent of rap stars and Islamist terrorists.

 For one thing, the Confederate economy was horribly managed and experienced incredibly high levels of inflation which devalued its currency to the point of worthlessness.  It's slave-based economy would not have been able to cope with the industrial revolution which would launch the U.S., Britain, a soon-to-be unified Germany, and other countries to global economic prominence.  The U.S. would likely have been successful in efforts to impose international trade restrictions on the ability of a victorious south to consistently and effectively export cotton.    In all likelihood, the Confederate Government would have become economically insolvent and would have had to seek multiple financial bailouts from the world's industrialized countries or commercial banks since no international financial institution such as the International Monetary Fund existed at that time.

 The confederacy would also have had to maintain high levels of taxation to support a massive military force that would have had to constantly battle indigenous slave insurrections and support for these rebellions provided by either the U.S. Government or militant abolitionist groups.   While I have little sympathy for sanctimonious contemporary liberals who proclaim that the Union and Abraham Lincoln did not meet their "lofty" standards of racial purity and denounce displays of the Confederate flag, I have even less sympathy for Confederate "lost cause" revisionist fanatics who cling to a nonsensical vision of the antebellum south as a political or moral model to constitute the foundation of your political and ideological worldview.

We should not accept the view that another Civil War is impossible within the U.S.  This is historical amnesia of the highest magnitude!   Upcoming efforts that are essential to reduce our national debt and restore fiscal solvency will cause acute pain and anger from a variety of constituencies who have become dependent on governmental transfer programs for their financial sustenance.  Yet these programs, including entitlement programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, are major drivers of our growing fiscal crisis.  Earlier this year we witnessed the violent reactions of labor union thugs to attempts to limit collective bargaining by public employees and the power of labor unions in states such as Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio.  There will be continual conflict over moral issues such as abortion and the growing attempts by the homosexual lobby to redefine marriage to include same-sex couples.  This latter coalition of groups, whose belligerence in advocating its beliefs, manipulating the judicial system, and intimidating its critics, surpasses that of the most militant antislavery abolitionists and could provoke violent reactions from opposing forces.  It is particularly possible that these and other issues, including economic volatility and illegal immigration, could produce violent conflict within the United States that may prove apocalyptic in nature.  Despite the deeply entrenched democratic sociopolitical traditions within this country,  historical and contemporary events demonstrate that it only takes a spark to incite violent upheaval and unleash the darkest sins and passions of human nature into incomprehensible destruction.