FREDERICKSBURG, Va. (AP) — The "crossroads of the Civil War," as Virginia's Spotsylvania County calls itself, is once again a cauldron of hostilities, this time minus the muskets.
Within range of four devastating battles that laid waste to tens of thousands of lives, 21st century culture wars rage. The stakes hardly compare to such tragic losses, but feelings run fever high.
Dirty tricks spill out; political struggles are taken to the extreme.
The principal flashpoint: school board meetings. And not just here. A long tradition of doing prosaic but vital work has sunk into chaos and poisonous confrontation across the United States. The lower rungs of democracy are cracking.
