If I sounded condescending, then I truly regret it. However, a life-long personal observation (and I am hardly the only one) is that old men and young boys who cry out for and justify violence and revolution tend never to have seen it. If that implies a certain lack of patience or consideration for those views then I am probably guilty as charged.
If I have found few people in my lifetime with whom I could have an extended discussion about the causes and consequences of the Spanish Civil War, that no doubt influenced the phrasing of my comments about it. Assuming you are both familiar with the period, then I will gladly debate the merits of doing everything in our power to prevent a similar catastrophe in our own country.
I am not sure what you mean by soap box. This forum would seem to be a rather tiny one. If on the other hand you mean I seem overly sure of my opinions, then fine. Please inform all of us of another practical course of action we should take. I am all ears.
When I used the expression "the blood of patriots," I assumed anyone reading it would know that I was referring to Jefferson's statement "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Lately, a number of the radical right organizations have been tossing the phrase around way too freely implying with it a license to commit violence. I think there are any number of conservatives and republicans who are willing fight politically with all their might for the future of this country. You will not find a single elected official who thinks violence or civil war is the answer.
But the future you both articulate is, unfortunately, absolutely possible. It can be stopped in its tracks politically. But that will take time and hard work. And we have regressed in that hard work enormously over the last 60 days. The good news is that we already have the numbers, and the ability to grow them. The question now is whether or not we are willing to get back to work.
I am worried sick about the future of my country. I have come to believe Trump has done our cause enormous harm since the election. It is becoming ever clearer that he ran the wrong campaign. Voter day turnout was not enough (wasn't in the GA runoff either) to overcome the mail-in wave. It also was obvious to anyone with any political experience that multiple state certifications would never be overturned. Trump has been unwilling to accept that, and has been happy to tear his party apart as part of his frustration. The most incomprehensible thing to me was when he tweeted on Dec 26th “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th, Be there, will be wild!” What did he think would happen? Naturally, the democrats have been all too thrilled to take advantage of the chaos. I just pray God we get through the next few weeks without further marginalizing what should be mainstream American thought.