In response to a judge's decision to jail Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis for contempt of court because she refused to obey a federal court order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, Fox News contributor Erick Erickson suggested in an op-ed that a civil war might soon break out in America.
Since the historic June 26 Supreme Court decision that made marriage equality the law of the land, Kim Davis, the clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, has refused to issue marriage licenses to either same or opposite-sex couples. The lengthy legal battle over her refusal culminated on September 3, when U.S. District Court Judge David L. Bunning ordered Davis detained for contempt of court after she continued to refuse to issue the licenses as required by a federal court order. In response to Jude Bunning's decision, Fox News contributor Erick Erickson, who once previously said that countries with marriage equality are "bent on suicide," wrote an opinion piece for the IJReview that asked “How much longer until we have another civil war?”
While maintaining that “no one should want it and no one, myself included, does want it,” Erickson listed what he said were potential reasons why a civil war could break out: Davis' jailing, Hillary Clinton's email practices, Internal Revenue Service audits, Supreme Court rulings, and “the President of the United States tell[ing] supporters that Republicans are the enemy and they should take guns to knife fights.”
From Erickson's September 4, 2015 op-ed in the IJReview (emphasis added):
When Kim Davis, the Rowan County, KY, clerk was hauled off to jail for refusing to give marriage licenses, a White House spokesman said no official is above the law. Hillary Clinton cheered on Twitter. The left went wild. “Where is your god now?” one person tweeted.
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Hillary Clinton using a private email server is no big deal to the left. Every changing story is met with acceptance. The Democrats' immigration plans have included trying to pull a fast one on a judge in Texas and the left applauded. The IRS can leak confidential donor lists of conservative groups and harass the same groups. Political opponents get awfully convenient “random” audits. Again and again, the left gets to ignore the laws it wishes to ignore while the right must comply.
On top of that, five Justices of the United States Supreme Court, who are some of the least representative of Americans, can invalidate the laws of a majority of states on a whim without actual legal reasoning. Because people want to be happy, the laws can be overturned.
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At that point, the citizens will clash beyond the ballot box. We see that beginning with random killings of police and random killings by police. It will only get worse. No one should want it and no one, myself included, does want it. But how much longer until we have another civil war?
Our nation's leaders have excelled at nothing so much as dividing and pitting American against American. When the President of the United States tells supporters that Republicans are the enemy and they should take guns to knife fights, we should not be surprised when they take him seriously. Besides, who will punish them? They perceive themselves to be on the winning team.
How much longer before the cold war of citizenry fed and flamed by Washington turns hot?