We Americans thrive on disagreeing and fighting among ourselves – it’s part of the fabric of our democracy. But, since the election, our natural crankiness seems to have deepened into paranoia.

Young people in colleges are demonstrating, afraid, after Donald Trump’s election, their freedom of speech is in peril. More than a few Internet websites are afraid Trump’s election means the return of the Klu Klux Klan. And gays fear that Trump – a New Yorker who favored gay marriage – is an ‘existential threat’ (don’t you loathe that phrase) to their way of life.

But wait a minute: No one’s rights were changed by the election. The laws are still the same. The Constitution is still in place. So why all this paranoia – is it more politics as usual? Or on Election Day did we, suddenly, lose faith in the strength of the Constitution and the traditions of our country?  

Paranoia’s a bother. Politics is a nuisance. But lost faith, now, that would be a real threat.