Duplicate Keywords - List #12 (Proposals for Permanent Merger and Auto-Conversion)

@Peter_pbn​ That is true. But many (most?) of the other keywords on this list are likely better merged in favor of "u.s." rather than "american." Would you favor treating the "civil-war" keyword differently from the others? Or is it more important to treat these keywords holistically with the same approach?  I struggle with the best answers to these questions.

By the way, the "civil-war" keywords don't necessarily have to refer to the historical civil war (1861-1865). They could also refer to a future, hypothetical civil war in America. 

Well, things that are not the same don't need to be treated the same way. A war may have an established name in a way that other concepts don't.

Notice the number of titles for the american- vs. u.s.- keywords.  If titles are like votes, the majority decision splits on many of these keyword choices. Accordingly,  it is the commonly used american-civil-war that is preferable to u.s.-civil-war, but also u.s.-government is preferable to american-government.  They all do not need to be the same, but should facilitate searches. 

Are we now in an era where "majority rules" is a thing of the past, and autocratic decisions are the determiners? 

Well, sometimes it might just be one person who submitted edits and made it look that way.

How paranoid.  By the way, I have never audited american- and/or u.s.- keywords.  Maybe I should have.  For the most part, I trust majorities.  My concern has vastly been with duplications and synonyms.

@bradley_kent @Peter_pbn 

Based on your feedback, I have revised the list to change the direction of the proposed mergers in favor of "american-civil-war." I also did the same with "american-politics," both because of the sheer numbers and also because "u.s." might be interpreted as connoting federal politics, while "american-politics" is arguably broader and could include politics for local office in America as well.

u.s.-civil-war (95 titles)  --->  american-civil-war (597 titles)  

u.s.-politics (217 titles)  --->  american-politics (1109 titles)

One reason why I originally drafted this list to merge in favor of "u.s." is because "american" could be incorrectly interpreted as implying "the Americas," such as North America, Central America, South America, etc. But with these two particular sets of keywords listed above, the other considerations arguably outweigh that concern.