Many years ago, as I drove the last few miles to Bryce Canyon, I noticed that I was beginning to see, along the road, minor examples of the amazing formations that fill the park.
Since then, I have often noticed that areas adjacent to major geologic formations frequently have lesser, less-perfectly-formed examples of those formations.
The obvious conclusion is that the forces and conditions that result in well-formed results operate on a continuum, and, on the fringes of the zone where the formations are perfect and distinct, it is often possible to see fragmentary examples of the upcoming recognizable formations.
I think that social phenomena work the same way. The emergence of the 60's Civil Rights movement was preceded by a number of harbinger events. World War II was preceded by the Japanese invasion of Manchuria and the German experiments with mass bombing/terror in Spain.
Looking at the many 'isolated' events where angry white-folks are beginning to act on their beliefs that insurrection against the Federal government and violence against its elected representatives is OK, are we seeing certain forces and conditions coalescing, in preparation for blossoming into the perfect forms of 'Civil War'?
Just asking.
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