By Stephen P. White, The Catholic Thing - First, as you may be aware, we are once again in an election year. National elections in the United States, and especially presidential elections, have become mass exercises in fear and loathing. Fear, in that this latest episode of “the most important election ever” has both sides convinced that the stakes are both existentially high and nearly hopeless. Everyone is terrified their side is going to lose and everyone seems convinced that the Republic is doomed if they do. Loathing, in that everyone in both parties seems to dislike their own side only slightly less than they loathe the barbarians across the aisle.