In the past, civil society was possible because, whatever the differences that existed between citizens, there was a deeper narrative, a deeper sense of identity and community, that all shared and that served to relativize such. Therefore, when an election was won by one party, adherents of the other party respected the results because something deeper than party politics—the nation itself—was strong enough to provide a sense of underlying unity. As the elections of Donald Trump in 2016 and Joseph Biden in 2020 have demonstrated, this is no longer the case. Modern American society is
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