We won and they lost. So why am I still so nervous? [View all]

[Bicoastal]

Let's review. In the last week, this November's losing party has given us:

* Conspiracy theories ranging from voter fraud to mind control

* The hijacking of an international tragedy as an excuse to cry treason

* Insults openly hurled at minorities, women, and youth (in other words, the historically powerless)

* Greedy partisan businessmen taking their election fury out on their employees

* A sore-losing candidate now actively promoting a toxic "Us vs. Them" worldview in his depressed followers

* And finally, much-publicized calls for secession from the Union

Over the last week, my attitude towards the implosion within the GOP has changed from gleeful to fearful. It is not healthy for a political party to be this over-the-top angry and vengeful--not for them, and not for the country as a whole. I know, I know--only a handful are legitimately insane. But as I see it, one insane person can do an awful lot of damage before the forces of sanity are able to stop him. Meanwhile, the rage on the right continues, worse than ever--and their representatives in politics and the media are doing nothing to stop it. If anything, they're throwing gasoline on the flames.

That's why I'm nervous. When our side lost in 2004, many talked of fleeing the country and were roundly criticized for doing so. In 2012, the losers seem to want to take the sanity of the entire country with them in defeat.