Societies plunge into chaos when two preconditions are met. The first is anocracy - the transition zone between democracy and dictatorship. Doesn't matter which way they're moving, it's the change, like a hermit crab getting a new shell, that creates the hazard.

The second is factionalization. We've got well past political parties and into a world where changing is as momentous as converting to a new religion. We mix a little bit less each day and it feels like violence is never very far away.

America has multiple aggrieved ethnic and sectarian groups. The only way to climb down from this is to focus on democratic participation, as South Africa did in the 1990s. The GOP are dragging us precisely in the wrong direction, making violent conflict inevitable.