America's First 'Rigged' Presidential Election - WSJ - 1 views
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the spirit of enthusiasm, the almost blind optimism about the future, that made America so exceptional has curdled recently into a sour distrust. Many Americans are all too ready to believe the worst not only of their leaders but of one another. Standards of civility and mutual respect have given way to angry accusations of deception and bad faith.
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Democracy, after all, is not just a set of practices but a culture. It lives not only in such formal mechanisms as party and ballot but in the instincts and expectations of citizens.
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Objective circumstances—jobs, war, competition from abroad—shape that political culture, but so do the words and deeds of leaders.
