If there were much of any possibility of a shooting war, it'd already be on. Propaganda war, "culture war," and terrorism/assasination are all so much easier and more effective.

Also, we do still have open discourse ("free speech"), and ~ although it sometimes seems feeble in contrast to corporate-sponsored mass media propaganda ~ it cannot be stopped in the Age of Communication. That's one reason I'm basically optimistic about the long-term future, even though I'm skeptical and somewhat curmudgeonly about many immediate issues.