Wait... do they have a point? No, of course they don't, don't be silly. But... what if they do? Impossible.

Exposure to propaganda affects the mind. We like to think our "individuality" is stronger than our culture, but that very belief functions to make us more susceptible. Keep this up, and you'll become more trumpist.

I've made so very many liberal political memes in my time that I have a lot of in-built psychological resilience to actually going full Trumpist. Hah.

But I agree with what you're saying. I've noticed that making right-wing propaganda myself has a different psychological effect than merely scrolling past it day after day.

However, it's not necessarily a bad thing. I know what you're thinking, but hear me out - it has helped me see the other side as human beings rather than brainwashed Trumpist mind-clones. Really, it has. And equally important, it's helped some of the politics streamers start to see me as more a full human being. It's weird that something like that is what it takes, but in our hyperpartisan era, where the other side is constantly demonized, I guess it is.

I do think that being able to relate to our fellow countrymen across the aisle is more important than the exact level of taxes or the price of gas or whatever. Because if the political divides in this country continue to exacerbate, then we're heading for a Civil War or best-case scenario, a peaceful negotiated break-up. A Civil War would be unthinkably catastrophic - a partition, incredibly depressing, disruptive, and still potentially violent (see the violent partition of India/Pakistan, and then the later partition of Bangladesh/"East Pakistan" from the rest of Pakistan).

Heck, we're seeing it right now in the U.K. with Brexit having torn internally at the divisions between England and the other countries, esp. Scotland and Northern Ireland, in a way we haven't seen in my lifetime. It's quite possible the U.K. will break up somehow. In the U.S., Texas has been threatening to secede for ages, but this time it might actually happen and some other states might decide to go with.

All this is avoidable. Nothing in history is "inevitable." But if we want to keep our country, we have to do hard work to make it happen, work we didn't think we'd have to do.

Well, some of us (meaning me) are every bit as hostile towards trumpists as trumpists are towards Democrats, liberals, and leftists. This includes a willingness to go to civil war. As such, it is unhealthy for us to enter such a psychological environment that would feed back our own belligerence.

I have to disagree - Civil War is the most catastrophic breakdown of a society. It's fatal, by definition, and "victory' isn't assured - the post-war society could be an even worse outcome than the pre-war.

We survived a Civil War once in this country but it killed hundreds of thousands, tore apart families, maimed combatants for life. The "correct," patriotic side (the Union) won the war, thankfully, and the outcome resulted in the abolition of slavery across the country, but the lost causers of that rebellion implemented 100 years of Jim Crow afterwards. The civil rights gains were scattershot and rolled back with the end of Deconstruction. The Confederate Flag controversies of our present era show that we are "still* living with the effects of that Civil War, 160 years later. And for how much longer? Nobody can say.

All of which is to say, you don't enter into a Civil War lightly. By doing so, you are cursing the present and an untold number of future generations.

I'm clear-eyed about the dangers of it happening. But that's why I'm committed to trying to stop it, if there's a way. Retaliatory demonization of the other side is not the answer. We have to choose the path of love, and we can't wait for them to make the first move.

We can tell right here that you're a liberal and I'm a radical!

I would prefer and do hope you can find a peaceful solution. I'd like to see a general strike or something like that. But I'm not willing to compromise with white supremacists. And I think there are many governments around the world that need to be overthrown.

That said, rural Americans do have valid needs that have been overlooked by many Democrats. One needs guns when living close to bears and mountain lions who can kill you, for instance.

Regarding compromise, and because it's such a divisive issue, what limits on abortion would you be willing to make? And to what lengths would you go to if the Republicans made it impossible to vote them out of office?

The GOP is stacking the Electoral deck in its favor in new and unprecedented ways — turning the in-built advantages they enjoy (Electoral College, Senate malapportionment, and rampant House gerrymandering) up to 11 with additional crackdowns on voting rights. All that is upsetting and a reason to oppose them and these measures at every turn, but not yet a cause for revolution.

But if the Republicans ever did really, truly outright blatantly steal a Presidential election, that would be different. Riots in the streets would be justified, IMO. Civil disobedience through tax strikes and otherwise. Etc etc. Hopefully such people-powered pressure tactics could get our democracy back in that event without resort to a Civil War. But it’d be tough.