You'd think that if you were maybe 12 years old. Screeching about the end times didn't feature prominently (read: at all) in election coverage during saner times. That said, given a prior attempt to literally overthrow the government I'd say the stakes are higher than usual this go around.
Good thing there is no ad hominem then. An individual who's sole experience with the presidential election cycle spans the last 12 years would correctly assume that the majority of people believe (with varying degrees of accuracy) that the fate of society writ large hangs in the balance. Rewind the clock a couple decades and nobody was shouting from the rooftops that the world was coming to an end when Reagan was elected (in this country anyway, his cowboy-ass demeanor scared the shit out of the soviets, with cause). Very little at all was said about Bush Sr's election. Same with Clinton. The muttering started in earnest after that, and has continued to get more shrill as both major political parties have opted to abandon the concept of actually governing (eg. let's get some shit done here) in favor of veering towards the fringiest ideology they can find that makes column inches.
