Unwind/WMG

The invention of Clappers set the whole thing off.
When Clappers were invented, suicide bombing became a much, much easier thing to do. This, likewise, made it a lot easier to start violent conflicts on issues like abortions. The introduction of this level of conflict was so sudden that, by the time it had developed into a full-fledged war, almost everyone would do almost anything to create a more peaceful state again. There, I think I've finally made sense of the book's premise. There are likely Clappers for other causes, abortion was just the one that rose to America's main internal issue. Radical Islamic terrorist Clappers, and other radically ideological foreign Clappers are probably out there too, they just don't recieve the focus because they're an external problem for America and Unwind focuses on America's internal problems. This would also help to explain the intrigue and confusion that the public has surrounding Clappers - everyone knows that they're important, but no-one knows what they stand for - because ANY cause can use them.