Experts: Postelection moaning — and gloating — shows how much we care

By Marc Ramirez

More than a week later, the kvetching continues: The election was fixed. Obama and his cronies are to blame for the country’s decline. And so on.

In the wake of the president’s re-election, vitriol has emanated from America’s troubled pores: racist rants, secession petitions, calls for revolution — all of it begging the question “Don’t people know how to lose gracefully anymore?”

In other words, is this all a matter of sore-loser-ness, like that of embittered fans of failed sports teams? Are people just going through the five stages of grief?

“Ultimately, people are passionate about what they believe,” said Sarah Feuerbacher, clinic director of SMU’s Center for Family Counseling. “Politics and elections hit on those core beliefs more than just about anything else in our lives.

“Therefore, people are naturally going to be disappointed with their side losing because it’s like they themselves, and the person they are, lost to a degree.”...