Voters’ choice: Civilizational arson vs. civilizational sanity

Every four years, we hear a refrain that the presidential election before us is the “most important election of our lifetimes.” This line is reflexively repeated by pundits, talkers and thinkers on both sides of the American political divide, and that repetition always engenders a great deal of backlash. We are reliably informed that our elaborate Constitution, with its intricate checks and balances and federalist system of dual spheres of sovereignty, can withstand any particular president (and Congress).