FAN MAIL--We would love YOUR feedback--Send us a Text Message

Politics feels hotter than ever, but the real danger is how quickly heated words become guiding rules. We unpack what a “cold civil war” looks like, why it resonates right now, and how the United States has navigated similar standoffs before. From the Nullification Crisis to federal enforcement of school integration, from Reconstruction’s contested peace to the open wounds of the Civil War, we draw a clear map of escalation—and a path to avoid repeating it.

I walk through how rhetoric primes action: when leaders normalize contempt and caricature, citizens assume bad faith and brace for conflict. We explore the balance between firm enforcement of law and the need for face-saving offramps that keep people inside the system. You’ll hear concrete lessons from Jackson, Clay, the Kennedys, and the courts; how legal clarity, courageous leadership, and careful language cooled past crises; and why institutions must enforce rights consistently to prevent extremist capture.

We also examine today’s flashpoints—campus speech battles, identity debates, and street-level confrontations—and ask what it would take to lower the temperature without silencing dissent. The answer isn’t softer arguments; it’s stronger norms: steelmanning opponents, rejecting political violence, and rebuilding civic rituals that let disagreements play out within guardrails. As we preview our upcoming structured debate, the goal is simple and urgent: trade labels for logic, trade clout-chasing for persuasion, and keep conflict civil and lawful.

lets have the debate