As far as I was aware, the working class in America is the middle class?

Most of the people I know in the middle class and their whole familys' are all just waiting for something to happen to cause some kind of revolution or civil war. They all see it coming, we just don't know when it's going to happen, where it's going to be started, and what of the many possible things will spark it. My mom expects it to happen when she's a crotchety old lady. A lot of my friends' parents just hope that when it happens, they're long gone.

That gave me a little chuckle. Yet the effort must be commended.

I didn't realise a second civil war was such a widely debated topic amongst the American people. :P

Maybe the class system is different in the US but working class is regularly attributed to (I grit my teeth here) the 'lower' class. The middle class are the people who are university educated or have a trade, live reasonably comfortably with average or good job security, etc. Those are the ones who make or break the beginning of revolution.

e: At Holy Sock - My Da is Irish so some of his family write his name Michail/ MÃ*cheál. I knew Michael Collins wrote his name the Gaelic way but I couldn't remember how you do Collins in Irish. :)

Yeah, I discussed class differences once with Vyrien and she explained how classes worked over there and I thought it was kind of strange since working class seems to cover everything but upper class over here. Classes over here are pretty much based entirely on income, and IIRC, the middle class actually gets the highest taxes of all the classes, which can leave a lot of families essentially lower class after everything's been paid, hardly getting by without qualifying for any kind of benefits because of their monthly income.

And honestly I think it depends on your location. In the west, it seems like revolution and what not is discussed way more frequently than in the center and east. I recall discussion really picking up around when our illegal immigration problem was at a high. The value of our properties were plummeting and people were finding it hard to get work because employers were exploiting the illegal immigrant workers because they were cheaper, and nothing was being done about it. No effort to push for the immigrants to get legal citizenship or any temporary solution.

Also California and everyone in it is a little crazy and trigger happy anyways sooooo

An American civil war against the government would be an absolute mess, because the "resistance" would be made of people with wildly different values and sensibilities. Oh, and the ones with the crappiest values are the ones with the most firepower.

Why do you think I'm a scared child that just wants out?

Other people have made very good points that I agree with on this page, so I'm going to just split hairs over a minor niggle.

You can't make predictions about our culture 100 years in advance. The Western World (and, to an extent, the entire world) changes so quickly these days. No-one could have predicted 9/11 ten years in advance. Nor the GFC or the rise of the Tea Party movement. Think about how our society has changed since the Internet became widespread; no-one could have anticipated that in the 80s.

Things might get worse or something unexpected might make everything better. But predicting what's going to happen in the next century is simply impossible.

It's just funny because translating your name into Irish, particularly at the time and now in Northern Ireland at least, is seen as a statement of Irish nationalism and a sort of shunning the Anglo identity that was considered imposed upon them by the British. So leaving Collins untouched creates some mixed signals. :)

Ah I wasn't trying to make a statement or anything, I am pro-unification or at least pro-referendum though. My family came from Galway, Clare and I think, Munster and played a part in the resistance movement pre-WWII. I try to stay atop of Irish affairs but I didn't know about the Anglo-identity bit. I didn't know you were Irish either HS!

Yeah, I know how fast things can change. I would have used a smaller time frame like Havoc did, but I figured things could be fluctuating like hell and back and wanted some kind of cushion in case someone called me out on not being able to predict something in the short term either. In the end, I know it's just a prediction. I know how much things can change in a short period of time, I'm just so used to hearing people speak about the state my country is in and hearing about how people want change.

Things like Ferguson happen and get progressively louder and more chaotic each time it happens. You will never get the full truth of the situation no matter where you stand in the matter, even if you experienced the whole thing first hand. You constantly hear people in your communities, schools, family talking about civil war or revolution, and with each incident the reactions become more and more violent. If history's anything to go by, unless something is done about this it's going to keep escalating.

I don't know what to expect, I just know that while things aren't as bad as they could be, they're not exactly good right now, and for a country that flaunts it's freedom of opportunity and acceptance of all people it's pretty disgusting that it's not following through and claiming it does.

I'm not really Irish since I was born in England - my family on my Mother's side hail from there. But I do live in Northern Ireland (but don't quiz me on politics - I ashamedly know very little). When you're born in NI you can become and Irish or British citizen (or both I think) - which would be to placate both nationalist and unionist communities. I've lived here since 2003 but I haven't really bothered to find out if I'm applicable for Irish citizenship. If both parents are Irish citizens I believe you automatically become one too.

So really I'm British. Or, by this point, Northern Irish since I don't have any real connection to down South beyond ancestry.

I don't know where I fall on the NI issue - a result of my political ignorance - but I certainly don't have any romantic ties to either side of the fence.

But in regards to a referndum one can be called by the Northern Ireland Assembly if members feel that a majority of voters would want it. How they figure this out - I do not know - but I imagine it's through surveys or something.

Although, and I may be wrong here, I imagine the desire for a United Ireland, at least in the ideological sense, is declining here and recent generations become less enamored with the nationalist ideology that was strong during the Troubles.

But yeah. Some people from nationalist communities like to use the Irish translation of their name. Usually on facebook.

Yes, things get progressively louder each time it happens. And then you eventually hit a certain tipping point and there's enough popular support that some ambitious politician sees it as being in his/her own best self-interest to support it, and more follow on as well, and then eventually things change. Even if you say that government is completely in the pocket of big business; with the one exception of the arms industry, wars are bad for business. They''ll start lobbying in support of anything to prevent a civil war.

In summary: The likelihood of shit progressing that far is exceedingly low.