In an even somewhat functioning democracy, the results of an election are an expression of the values, interests, and priorities of the community, and the values, interests, and priorities of community after community across the United States as expressed in this election are morally alien to me
you are overstating the degree to which the USA functions as a small-d democracy, even in a narrow sense. elections are carefully-scripted, mulibilliondollar affairs run by the public relations/advertising industry. the candidates hardly, if ever, speak about policy beyond the barest platitudes, and even the position papers you can dig up in some corner of their website are a) ambiguous and sparse on details and b) poorly correlated to what the candidate will actually do with power one elected.
the ballot propositions show this gulf between politics and policy. multiple states, even the 'red states', voted resoundingly to raise the minimum wage (while voting for candidates that probably support the repeal of the min. wage). voters routinely support rolling back the prison-industrial complex by legalizing weed and limiting the ability of DAs to charge nonviolent offenders with felonies with petty crimes.
this is not a new development. Chomsky noted all the way back in 1984 that voters re-elected Reagan in a landslide while exit polls showed that they hoped his domestic agenda would be defeated. the relationship between electoral politics and policy has been dwindling for a long times, and is now approaching zero.
now, if your argument is that the American soul is corrupt beyond the possibility of redemption, no argument there -- it always has been.
