It Was A Civil War

But aren't they all?  

I had this thought while swimming laps this afternoon.  Communal societies, like that depicted in The Island of the Sea Women by Linda See, share and share alike..... until someone breaks a norm and then all hell breaks loose.  

Suddenly there are factions.

I'm thinking about the Tudors, a dynasty built on bastards and blood, in which the peasantry was called upon to do the dirty work. Did a cobbler in Cornwall really care who sat on the throne?  Does a woman in a remote Afghan province care which repressive autocrat  holds the Presidency?  

I don't think so.

People, real people like you and me, want the government to stay out of our way and to keep us safe.  Beyond that, things get a little messy - how far out of my way and how safe and who (like, if a fetus is a person at 6 weeks is that when child support begins?).  The intricacies get in the way, more often than not, and it would be nice to think that the discussions were political -  not personal.

Mostly,  it seems that our governance is a clawing for power rather than a regard for the general well-being.  

Sounds like a dysfunctional family dynamic.  Sounds like the start of a nasty divorce.... or a civil war.