At times it seems we are just one good argument away from civil war. I remember in vivid detail how divided the country was during the late 60’s and early 70’s over the disastrous, contrived, bloody, denuding, imperial war in Vietnam. I don’t think we are there yet but an ominous darkness holds sway across the land. Families are starkly split and unspeaking. Listening to the national zeitgeist reveals two sets of “facts” surrounding every propelling event. He’s a rapist. He’s not. He stole a car. He returned it. He used her credit card. He did not use her credit card. One accused rapist is appointed to the Supreme Court, another is shot seven times in the back.

I am uneasy about the coming election. Many observers are more than concerned. The President is already declaring the outcome fraudulent. He is preparing us for what he will do if he loses. What’s that? Hard to say, but may I try to envision a worst case scenario?

The President has asked supporters to vote twice, to vote by mail and then in person at the polling booth. This is fraud but hey test the system! See if they (the Board of Elections) can tell if you voted twice. Being a polling inspector I can tell you only one vote will count. It will take time to sort it out, but this is the time during which the President wants to create as much confusion and doubt as he can possibly get away with. Let’s say election night we go to bed and Trump is winning. Then three days later (or more), after all the mail-in votes and absentee ballots are counted, Trump is behind in both the popular count and the Electoral College pledges. He will claim millions of people voted twice, that millions of votes are illegal, that the election must take place again, and that the results will not stand. His Attorney General will back him on all accounts.

It will go to the courts.

Meanwhile, Trump has sanctioned groups of men with AR-15’s and semi-automatic weapons and carrying enough ordinance to subdue Poncho Villa, sanctioned them to take over government centers, shoot paint balls at peaceful protestors from the back of rolling trucks, and called on armed men to show up in troubled cities. What will these militia do on Election Day? Or the day after Election Day? Why not assume the worst? Assume there will not be a peaceful transition of power.

A few days ago, in the evening – dusk -- a caravan of trucks passed me by. They were big trucks with over-sized tires and loud exhausts, cold-packs or something, RAMS, Fords, Silverados, all in caravan, all with big flags snapping in their own wind, Stars and Stripes and Trump 2020 flags, and the new flag, the blue flag, the one that seems to have replaced the Rebel flag as the flag of veiled racism. Black Lives don’t matter, it says, or, at least, Blue Lives come first. How can America be suffering this regression? Intelligent commentators point out Biden and the liberals must try to understand the Trump supporter, what makes them tick, what the left needs to do to move the needle. The discussions I have had with Trump supporters point to something a little more troubling than just trying to understand the mindset of the right. They just don’t care if you understand them or not. To them, you trying to understand them is just an exhibition of your liberal weakness. They don’t need you. They don’t want you. They don’t want national healthcare for their children, they don’t care if public schools are eviscerated by spreading the pie to private schools. They don’t want to know anything about foreign policy, and if Putin likes Trump, that’s just fine. They think Trump’s list of accomplishments is as long as your arm. Covid is a hoax and on November 4th we won’t have to wear this inconvenient truth over our face.

The caravan was aggressive and militaristic, and just what they wanted to portray. Forceful, intimidating, looking like the Taliban -- all they needed were mounted machine guns, and why not, the 2nd Amendment, right? On the move, these are my neighbors, and I have to say, I don’t care either, I don’t like it. They have every right to drive down the highway dressed up however they want, but I don’t have to like it. These are the conditions for civil war and I am not alone in feeling an oppressive authoritarianism is on the rise, that our democracy is in danger. The fish is rotting from the head. A few weeks ago I tried to be optimistic. But we are being set up, set up for a fall.

In November, the day after the election, I will begin planting the garlic for the 2021 season. I have spent a couple recent afternoons picking stones off the disked field, the new field, preparing the soil for the tiller and composted manure. In the field the sun was hot and the air cool and the dust from the rock was sweet. I will be in the field while all hell is breaking loose. Some people aren’t so lucky.