I'm not sure where this all ends Eynon. I'm really not. Because it's FUBAR all around: we've got people who support parties simply because it's their party, we've got insane corruption and money that has jacked the system, we've got a media that won't do anything but do play-by-play.
As far as the catastrophe scenario: already been there. 9/11. That should have brought us and the entire world together. That lasted about the blink of an eye before it was cynically used to drive a wedge between us internally and us and the world.
Sad times.