The Second American Civil War

No one can say just who fired the first shot, just as no one will ever be able to discern just what moment became the catalyst for the conflagration that has torn a once great nation asunder. Many in the newly formed Democratic Union of Free States claim the bitterness and hatred emanating from the candidacy and campaign of John S. McCain and his running mate, an unqualified Governor of a state that seceded from the Union immediately after hostilities began, Sarah Palin were the cause of their supporters taking license to go and kill anyone who disagreed with them. Almost all of the Northeastern states, as well as several upper Mid-Western state plus Virginia make up the Democratic Union of Free States, a powerful coalition to whom the Second Confederacy must turn to for financial assistance in order to survive.

Former states such as Arizona, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Utah have been absorbed or granted entry into the Republic of California, a nation that has taken up isolationism as it's mantra, and who, full of food and other of life's necessities, refuse to bargain or trade at all with their former colleagues to the east or south.

Oklahoma, Kansas, and New Mexico were seized by the newly reformed Republic of Texas, whose Governor Jeb Bush threatens the Free States of Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado with nuclear holocaust unless they submit to becoming a part of Texas. It would be comical were it not a Bush nut job in charge of the launch codes. The only thing stopping Texas from making good on their threat is the combined might of the newly formed separate nations providing an umbrella of mutually assured destruction should the Texans attempt to invade the breadbasket of the continent.

Virtually all of the Ohio Valley states joined the D.U.F.S. for both financial and cultural reasons, with the great industrial capacities of the northern states meshing quite nicely with the agricultural centers in the upper Mid-West.

Hawaii was seized by Japan when the first missiles were fired, as well as Guam, the Marshall Islands, and American Somoa. Puerto Rico declared it's complete independence from the former U.S., aligning itself with Cuba and by proxy, Russia.

Entire cities lie in ruins, New York, Boston and Washington D.C. being battlegrounds used by not only invading forces from the southern areas, but wracked by internal fighting as well. There is no evidence as to who lobbed a nuke at Atlanta, but the Confederacy's plans to use that city as it's Capital were scrapped in favor of Savannah. Likewise, Austin, shattered beyond recognition due to a constant barrage of artillery and air strafings, caused the Republic's Capital to be moved to Dallas. Philadelphia is the recognized center for the North, although remnants of the old federal government continue to insist that D.C. is the rightful base for government.

The bitter divide and hatred felt by all of the participants in the fighting, and even by those who could do little more than watch, is thick enough to cut with a butter knife. Tensions run high along borders of the new nations, with sporadic gunfire heard all along the frontiers due to itchy trigger fingers.

Funny though, even as the economies of the entire world collapsed due to this second American civil war, it has been the communities of Europe that have provided the relief for the former united country. All save Texas have accepted this aid, even the Confederacy, because to not partake in the largess would have spelled certain doom. Ordinary Texans regularly sneak across the mine laden borders to escape the oppression and brutal tactics being employed to suppress all dissent, but those who are caught are water boarded, tortured and hung. Condemned by the United Nations as a rogue state, the Texas government claims they could care less what the world thinks. It's where most Republican politicians escaped to when the fighting they had been begging for broke out. And aslo the only nation on the continent that has not outlawed corporations.

President McCain of the Texas Republic has not been seen for several months, leading to speculation as to his health. His number two, Comrade Lieberman, has been speaking on McCain's behalf. With the departure of now Premier Palin of the Nation of Alaska, Lieberman immediately moved to shore up his own grip on power. Alaskans, angry at the war caused by McCain and Palin's whipping their supporters into violent frenzies during the 2008 Presidential election, claim they do not recognize the authority of either Palin, the self proclaimed Premier, nor the power behind the throne, Todd Palin. The nation seems to have fallen back on it's former frontier mentality, with everyone doing anything they please.

Gasoline prices have started to reach the ceiling at 24 dollars per gallon in the southern parts of the country. Northern cities only reached about 10 bucks due to the help of the Canadians. Food consists mainly of stale bread, corn on the cob, oily fish from polluted waters, and the occasional pack of dried beans and potatoes. Milk has started to become pasteurized once more in some areas, and it's rumored that the Montanans are beginning to process real meat again, but it could be many months yet till we know the extent of their capacity. Fears abound that the knowledge of food production could spark yet another war.

There's no telephone or television service, the only communication devices the small hand held radios distributed by the European Union and Canada. People are seen huddling around a single radio, desperate for news from other parts of the broken nation, but alas, with the frequency jammers employed by some out of spite, information is sporadic and decidedly propagandized.

People have started to try to rebuild what they can, attempting to get stores and services back up and running. Many areas have electricity once again, meaning that cities with subways can ferry people around to different work areas. Buildings that were destroyed during the fighting are being rebuilt, although many office buildings are still being used as housing by those fearful to return to outlying areas. Cities have become refuges of sorts, the comfort of safety in numbers being on people's minds.

It is believed that the Northern Union decided to stop fighting the Confederate States after the slaughter that occurred at Midland, Georgia. 200,000 casualties from both sides was just too much to bear for either country, and the destruction of Ft. Benning, with it's accompanying brutality to prisoners of war took the fight out of everyone. Although the Confederacy blames the North for the nuking of Atlanta, there is evidence that suggests it was actually the Alaskans, under the orders of the Palin family, that launched the warhead. Roundly condemned for the cowardly act, scholars also believe that it was the firing of a nuclear missile that brought the fighting across the continent to a standstill. Looking on the bright side, they say that nuke may have saved millions of lives.

No one is quite sure where things will go from here. There does not seem to be any desire for the competing nations to rejoin into one entity any time soon. The Northerners and their allies in the Mid-West claim no possible talks will be negotiated without the handing over of the criminals McCain, Lieberman, and Palin. The Texans, with their usual aloofness, claim they don't know the whereabouts of any of the principles, even though Lieberman gave a speech in El Paso two days ago. And, claim the Northerners, with Texas' close ties to Alaska, they could easily convince the lawless country to hand Palin over. California has outlawed political parties altogether, opting instead for a fully independent candidate process, funded entirely by the states within their Republic. They have expressed interest in talks, but don't seem to be in any hurry, what with their abundance of food and energy.

And so, no one really knows if there will ever be a nation called the United States again. The second American civil war tore asunder what two hundred plus years worth of sweat, blood and tears built. It was such a little thing really, something that could have been avoided had those with keener intellects demanded a halt to the hate and the call for violence by the now outlawed Republican Party. In trying to win an election where it was clear the electorate no longer wished to follow them, they made up lies about their fellow countrymen and told their dwindling amount of followers that it was alright to use any means they felt like to sow fear and distrust. Until that fear led to murder, and that murder led to reprisals, and those reprisals led to every nut job in the country grabbing guns and firing at anything that moved.

Time warping back to October of 2008, one can clearly see that all of it could have been avoided had those in charge but arrested those calling for violence, calling their fellow countrymen traitors when they themselves were the seditionists, and had they not tried to play with people's fears and people's prejudices in order to retain a grasp on power they had been abusing since taking office. Such progress could have been made, but for the timidity of the mainstream media, who allowed the charlatans to spew their message across of the airwaves of a worried America, and not call them on the air what they were. Liars. The very same liars who led the nation down the path of financial ruin, divided the country, and helped to destroy the dreams of the entire world.