Greg Olear says a mouthful when he states,
This has been a week of profound unease.
And as he notes, the primary source of our anxiety is, for many of us, at least, Tuesday's election.
Dan Rather and Elliott Kirschner write,
It is important to face facts. That too many of our fellow Americans refuse to do just that is a big part of what got us into this mess. And the facts are what they are. There is a sizable movement in this country that seeks to literally vote out democracy. This movement is fueled by a coordinated campaign on right-wing media. It exploits the frailties of our institutions. It weaponizes lies. And it leverages our fractured technologies to turn the very notion of “the truth” into a partisan attack line. ...
The reason the would-be autocrats seek to lock in minority rule through partisan gerrymandering, court packing, and manipulating antiquated procedures like the filibuster is that they know that in a true vote of the majority of Americans they would almost assuredly lose.
They know that Republican presidential candidates have won the popular vote only once since 1988. They know that when policy issues like raising the minimum wage, expanding Medicaid, or extending voting rights to former felons are on the ballot, even in red states, they tend to win. They can see that labor unions are showing some signs of a comeback. They understand that major corporations recoil from being associated with hate speech. They know that their brand is unpopular with young voters.
In short, the flexing of power by the forces who would tear down American democracy is actually an admission of weakness. They are afraid that an America that prioritizes privilege over justice, that seeks to bask in a mythic past rather than embrace the future, that wants to stoke division instead of build unity is not an America in which most Americans want to live. For them, power is everything, and they fear they could lose it.
And they are right.
There is a sizable movement in this country that seeks to literally vote out democracy. This is absolutely correct. And that movement is far advanced, with open complicity of the U.S. mainstream media for some years now.
How can we not be anxious about what we see on the horizon?