I Would Have Thought Chilling Out Would be the Best Option.

Our country is incredibly divided right now. Because of this, I can see only three possible futures.

First, there could be a massive cultural change or religious revival that unites the left and the right under a common value or sense of identity.

Second, the United States of America could become nominally the United States of America. I imagine the following. If the left is in control of the federal government, states that lean right simply don't do what the federal government has told them to do; and if the right is in control of the federal government, states that lean left simply don't do what the federal government has told them to do. The federal government will lose most of its power, and the states within America will be united, if at all, in name only or by political affiliation. Possibly, we become like the European Union.

Third, a civil or revolutionary war could break out.

Truly, this seems to be the course of all countries. Either they are united under one common value or sense of identity, or they split, either peacefully or violently.

Sadly, we are coming to a tipping point because it seems the left and the right have little to no common value or sense of identity. We are even divided on how to think about our own history. That means that the United States of America, unless some radical cultural change or religious revival occurs, is on the precipice of splitting.

With violence seen from both the left and the right in the past several months, and with tensions that continue to be on the rise, I think that there is a high chance that violent war breaks out in our country soon.

May God have mercy on us instead.

STEPHEN IRBY

Fayetteville