I have often expressed the opinion that I fear that there is another civil war in the near-term (next 50 years) future of the United States. The reason is the tendency of the political group currently called liberals (mostly in the Democratic Party) to criminalize the policy decisions of their political opponents. This is what ultimately leads to dictatorship when losers of an election fear for their liberty and maybe even their life if they surrender power. We often see that in third world countries. Putin probably fells that way in Russia. So far Republicans have not pursued Democrats with criminal charges after Republicans gained control. But, Democrats are beginning to try to criminalize their opponents. Obama is making a serious effort to permanently disenfranchise conservatives. I think this has the potential to lead to a civil war of some sort, not necessarily, not even likely to be engagement of massive armies as in the 1861-1865 war. Here from Powerline is a comment on the attempts by Obama to criminalize the policy of the Bush Administration.