Likely Voters

The County Election (1852) by George Caleb Bingham (St. Louis Art Museum)

We live in weird times. Never mind the illusion of America leading the world, in the manner of Reagan’s “shining city on a hill,” Americans are visibly cracking under the strain of our own stated ideals and national aspirations.

News stories and scattered recent local election returns reveal a confused and freaked out American electorate these days. In Texas, “QAnon conspiracy theorists gathered in downtown Dallas to await the return of…