Back in January, conservative columnist Dennis Prager gave his take on the state of the union – and it was not good.  The piece, titled "America's Second Civil War," begins with the following:

It is time for our society to acknowledge a sad truth: America is currently fighting its second Civil War.

In fact, with the obvious and enormous exception of attitudes toward slavery, Americans are more divided morally, ideologically and politically today than they were during the Civil War.

The radicalism of the '60s has come to fruition, and a new kind of civil war has begun.  Although there isn't any shooting or fatalities, at least not yet, make no mistake: a "cold" civil war has started.  It's a civil war that's in its infancy and very likely could become a hot civil war like the big one in the 1860s.  This one will involve a small group of extreme leftists creating enough mayhem to ignite widespread violence in their goal to overturn the existing political, social, and economic order that's been in place since the founding of the country.  Places like Berkeley and Portland, as well as most of academia, are testing grounds for what will spread beyond the perennial locations of protest and higher education.  As a recent piece in the Weekly Standard bluntly put it, "This Is War."  

Now we're in the midst of the ultimate battle in the culture war – the battle for the First Amendment – and if Republicans don't recognize this is a war and fight like their existence depends on victory, nothing else will matter.

The Democratic Party is in the process of being completely co-opted by the most extreme leftists, who were midwifed out of the tumultuous 1960s.  There have been feeble objections by the current leaders of this new left, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, to let conservatives have their say in the midst of a nationwide veto of the First Amendment by violent and unruly protests.  They even criticized Obama for getting a $400,000 payday speaking to Cantor Fitzgerald, the epitome of the Wall Street financial organizations he railed against during his presidential campaigns and administrations.

The pleas of Sanders and Warren to uphold the sanctity of the First Amendment had a shelf life of about twelve hours and were completely ignored by the mainstream media.  Even Bill Maher and the ACLU have spoken out against the radical "antifa" (as in anti-fascist) left.  The only coverage this group is getting is on conservative websites.  But during a recent rally in Boston, Sanders and Warren appeared together and reverted to form by egging on their faithful followers and signaling their extremist base to stay the course in the "revolution" by preparing for their next big fight against Trump.

In an outstanding piece recently posted by the Chicago Tribune, "The Lies We Were Told About Who Would Kill Silence Free Speech":

It's there in front of you, the thuggish mobs of the left killing free speech at American universities. The thugs call themselves antifas, for anti-fascists. They beat people up and break things and set fires and intimidate. These are not anti-fascists. These are fascists. This is what fascists do. Surveys suggest that many young Americans think the First Amendment should be amended so as to not allow offensive speech. So the students have learned their lessons well.

In the end, however, Sanders and Warren are the faces of the latest incarnation of the most radical and authoritarian leftism that's been rearing its head off and on since the '60s.  A Sanders acolyte is even challenging Nancy Pelosi, one of Congress's most enduring liberals, in a primary, which tells you everything you need to know about how extreme the Democratic Party has become over the last fifty years.

Now the party appears to be approaching critical mass, where its New Left forefathers would be proud.  The current New Leftists might think they're the vanguard of a social revolution, but it goes much deeper than that.  They are precipitating a new kind of civil war, one that in all likelihood will not end well.

Another quote from "This Is War" puts the current movement in historical context: "History has shown a small group of people, especially when they're willing to oppress others and commit violence against their fellow countrymen, can attain power."

Lenin, Marx, and Mao would all be proud.