If anyone honestly feels this way, I invite them to read The Republic for Which It Stands [1] by Richard White which is about the post-Civil War era and the Gilded Age. Everything from the political division to the growing income inequality looked a lot like today - worse even! - and the author specifically points out the similarities throughout the book.

This has all happened before, and it will all happen again.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Republic-Which-Stands-Reconstruction-...