Cheryl Perkins wrote:

Only if you did not support your own political system, since any
democratic system must include the possibility (or certainty!) that
sometimes the group that wins is believed by its opponents to be not
merely a less good choice, but to be a completely wrong one.

Except when one suspects "the group who wins" of doing so by
fradulent and illegal means! (Hitler "won" elections in
Germany, too - prior to abolishing the democratic process
there.) Remember, "those who will not learn from history
are doomed to repeat it".

It's obvious to this outsider, and by what I read, to many Americans, that
American society is not only profoundly divided, it is very nearly divided
in half. That means neither side can really dismiss the other as a small
bunch of unimportant kooks, and I think that inflames the rhetoric
enormously.

Some of us are old enough to remember Hitler's rise to power
(or at least to have read about it in school, shortly
afterward). We see too many parallels in present-day
America to complacently assume that democracy will
ultimately prevail. ("There are none so blind....", etc.?)


I also think it would be a mistake to channel political opinions into a
black and white, all and none attack on those who hold them. It doesn't
help to insult your friends and relatives who voted on the other side by
calling into question their intelligence and morality.

Not so much their intelligence and "morality" (whatever that
means) as their judgement. Credulity, alas, has little
connection with intelligence, and the number of credulous
"men of good will" in America is frightening!

I think the US voters made a big mistake in their choice of leader, but
it's their choice, not mine.

Unfortunately, the rest of the world is likely to suffer for
it, however! "Ignorance and arrogance are poor foreign
policy", we've already seen the results of such a policy in
Dubya's FIRST four years, God help the world if he continues
as he began!