The notion of a population of individuals (a school of fish, a herd of buffalo, a country of citizens) as a biological unit is both commonplace and foreign. A murmuration of starlings appears cognitive in direction and nimble intent. A school of fish is similarly responsive, exhibiting behavior of a disconnected whole.
As citizens, it is harder to visualize, say, an electorate with similar coherence. We don't dart and wheel with anything like synchronization. We assert individuality, free will, diversity of opinion.
An electorate is a richly variegated murmuration of citizens, and the current electorate is different from any known to any citizen now voting. This is perhaps always the case, but fair to say never more than today?
Both sides feel an existential threat from the other. Sinusoidal polls characterize similarity to the past, implying predictive power. Intimations of tortured legal pressure, Machiavellian machinations, and intimidation and violence proliferate.
Whence goeth our strained murmuration?
