Part II:
I think that what we're seeing in politics may well be mirrored in religion.  Simply put, the "old systems" are no longer sufficient.  As individuals, we may not want to be bothered by what's going on in government, religions, etc., but I think we DO very much want to see corruption go away, and be able to once again, trust those who lead, at least to some degree that we don't think we have today.  We know what we don't like, which creates outlines of what we do (e.g., end racism, end corruption in government, reduce if not end poverty, shrink the wealth and power gap, etc...)  

I think all of this feeds that "anxiety" you mention.   My fear is that there don't seem to be too many ways for solving these problems that don't require we get in personally, and deep.  And THAT opens the door to things almost unthinkable (e.g., a reboot to America, a reboot to the church, etc...)   

So while the focus here is on politics, I kinda think it's really even bigger than that...