One of the things I regularly hear and commonly read in the comments sections of American Thinker is that if there is a civil war in the United States, the right will have no trouble beating the left.  The logic is that a woke army is by nature weaker than a conservative military force.  After all, they are not as naturally tough or motivated by solid moral foundations, etc.

Nothing could be farther from the truth, and one only need look briefly into history to see the validity of my argument.  This is a classic mistake made by military planners and armchair quarterbacks since the Greek and Roman wars and has resulted in much "unforeseen" misery and destruction.

Just before the beginning of the American Civil War, Union officials, the press, and most Northern citizens were convinced they could defeat the Confederates in just a few weeks.  In fact, it took several humiliating defeats over a couple of years for the Northern troops to start giving as good as they got from the Southern troops.  This happened even though the North had the advantage of overwhelming industrial, technological, and logistical infrastructure over the South.

Image: Currier and Ives's Battle of Corinth, Mississippi (edited).  Public domain.

Why on Earth did all those otherwise rational Southern boys fight so hard to support the institution of slavery when only a small percentage of Southerners could even afford slaves?  Because they were motivated by their leaders to "fight for their God-given rights," which is exactly how the conflict was represented.  In fact, all the states that seceded put in writing that slavery — that peculiar institution of the South — was a specific and very significant reason for their secessions.

So, given a new civil war, what would motivate the left?  First, leftists believe they too are fighting to protect America and make it a better country.  Regardless of what you may think, millions of people believe in the cause we call socialism.  They hear how President Biden vilified the right as MAGA extremists and the greatest threat to our democracy (although America is a republic).  They think we are homophobes because we go to church and that we hate women because we are pro-life.  His speech served no other purpose (in my mind) than to prepare the left for the extreme measures Biden plans to take against the great MAGA threat at some point very soon.

Don't let anyone fool you, and don't fool yourself.  Leftists will be tough opponents.  They will receive good modern military training and equipment.  Even as our current national army steadily shifts "wokeward," its abilities and toughness will not decrease simply because it is woke (as I have heard so many amateurs boldly state).

They will learn the same tactics, strong command and control techniques, efficient logistical support processes, and everything else a first-rate modern army has at its disposal.  They will not be a bunch of weakling soy-boys and gender-neutral fools.  They will fly the American flag whether we like it or not.  Maybe the right will fly the Betsy Ross as a symbol of the original Founders and the original interpretation of the U.S. Constitution — the same "interpreted" document the left will be fighting for.

Those sincerely conservative troops still serving in our woke military will likely have to choose whether to stay in place or to switch to the rebellious army of the right.  They will likely bring whatever weapons and equipment they can, and perhaps entire National Guard or Reserve units will switch sides as well.

Regardless of what exactly happens, both sides will be well equipped, highly motivated, and very deadly.  It will not be a quick war.  It will unleash misery and violence much as we saw during the Balkan War in the early 1990s.  Very old people, women, and young children will suffer the worst of it.

We tend to hear a very sanitized version of our first Civil War, but one does not have to look very hard to find out that we Americans were very cruel to one another and fought savagely for what we believed in.  Don't think for one minute that it won't happen that way again.  The last thing any of us should want is a hot civil war.

God bless the United States.