… In the book "A Canticle For Leibowitz" there is a global nuclear war, after which the survivors kill off everyone with any "book knowledge" -- those who, in their emotional opinion, helped bring about the disaster. …

One need not invoke fiction to make the point.

The Bolsheviks, Red Guard, and Khmer Rouge all murdered intellectuals—in the case of the Khmer Rouge, even wearing eyeglasses was a capital crime.

I know I'm a female, and this is probably really a men's topic; but since my husband doesn't post on here, I'm putting a word in for him.

There's a local militia group in our area that is family based; pretty much the grandfather, his 4 sons, and their grandsons meet monthly for rifle practice.  They try to do things for themselves.  My husband knows them, and they have a lot of the same interests, although the head of the family just wanted to keep it in the family, we both thought it was an interesting idea.  (FYI: They'd be on the Conservative side of said cινιℓ ωαr!)

My thought after reading Matthew's post was: wouldn't it be a good idea for trad Catholic men to start something similar in their areas?  Really, if such a situation as Matthew proposed came about, it would be preferable for a Catholic MAN to be in charge of leading/defending a small group of people versus a Protestant man, no matter how well-meaning he might be.      

Good point!

…"Who did you vote for in 2020?"….

I think the more important question is, "Have you ever worked for the government in any capacity?"

My first suggestion for you is you might peruse the postings at WRSA: https://westernrifleshooters.wordpress.com/

I second this suggestion.  Unfortunately, as of late, the comments have been turned off.  But when they were going, one could easily see what Mark79 was referring to, and how far apart even the 'conservatives' were on many a topic.

It's very simple for me. I'll tell them I voted for the guy who was for America first. Not Israel first.

Then don't expect to be trusted/accepted by the CONSERVATIVE side in the cινιℓ ωαr.

There are only two sides in a time of war. "US" and "THEM".  Or, "FRIEND" and "ENEMY". War is extremely tribal and primitive; there are no nuances. Everything is emotion and tribalism.

Today in our civilized society you have the right to vote for some no-name who gets 10 votes nationwide. Good for you.

But in a collapse scenario (or cινιℓ ωαr), that will basically amount to being a Lone Wolf -- completely on your own. Good luck with that. Seriously though, your home will have new owners -- one of the TWO sides (Conservatives or Liberals) will have conquered your home a few months into the war. You and your family will be dead. I have to be blunt, because such is the harsh reality of war and collapse. Sugar-coating does nobody any good.

Even if those 10 or 20 voters for "Mr. No-name" lived on the same compound, that is nothing compared to the tens of millions on each side in the coming cινιℓ ωαr.

Unless there is a *large* contingent of "Traditional Catholics", "Chestertonians", "St. Simon of Trent Society" or some such group you can band together with, you're going to have to ally your family with either the CONSERVATIVES or the LIBERALS. We'll see how many conservatives forgive you for not voting for Trump. Some will, some won't. I hate to break it to you, but that's just the way it works.

We make our own choices, and we live with the consequences. We each have free will.

Yes, a sobering high-probability assessment.

Worse, many will not ask any questions, but shoot first on the basis of "Your skin color is your uniform."

Tragic, but a realistic assessment of the state of morality in the USA.