By 1860, there had been at least a decade of unrest among the silent majority – mostly farmers, Christians, and family people living outside the major urban areas.  They were angry with the political establishment and wanted serious changes in the federal government.  But they mostly sat silent because they had no political leader who accurately expressed their frustration with the system.

Then an outsider emerged who captured all of the common folks' attention, who promised to change Washington and how it worked and make America a more just country.  Nobody gave this outsider a chance to win the presidency!  He didn't know anything, they said.  All of the established media predicted he would lose big against his well known, established, and well financed opponent.

Well, a funny thing happened.  That outsider in 1860 won!  And in 1861, all of the established politicians, the power brokers, and their followers decided to secede from the Union and start a civil war.

That period of American history was dark, with over 600,000 men dying, but it also led to a brighter era, as it forever changed the course of American history for the better.

Twenty-seventeen looks like 1861, but I sure hope the established crowd of Democrat politicians, the power brokers, and their followers don't make the same mistake they made in 1861.