The sun will come up Nov. 9

As I write this, the election is still a few days away. As you read this, the campaigns at the local, state and national level are over. Thank God. And I mean that literally.

I thank the Lord that this derisive and divisive season has ended. What remains is the fallout from what has to be one of the ugliest presidential races in history. How has America been changed? Is it possible to mend the rift that has developed?

If we have awakened Wed­nesday morning —I know this newspaper is actually printed and delivered in Hillsboro on Tuesday—and Donald Trump is our new leader, I wonder if Ameri­cans will experience a form of “voters’ remorse,” similar to the way many in England regretted their choice to leave the European Union after the “Brexit” resolution passed this summer.

Will the changes promised by the Republicans’ anointed one actually come to fruition? Or, will the brash, self-proclaimed outsider find that delivering the goods will be much harder than making pre-election pledges?

I suspect there will be no wall built between Mexico and the United States. Cer­tainly, our neighbors to the south will never lift a hand to help, let alone spend a single peso on the project. Such a structure is not even physically possible. But that apparently did not matter to those hungry for a solution to a perceived problem presented by illegal immigrants heading north in droves. There is evidence that such a wall would actually exacerbate the problem, as undocumented workers would be trapped on our side of the border.

I don’t believe the Afford­able Care Act can be repealed as easily as the Republicans led voters to believe prior to the Nov. 8 vote. Currently, more than 20 million people have enrolled. What would become of them? Yes, there is room for improvement, but metaphorically throwing out the baby with the bathwater seems like a bad idea at this stage. The real problem is the still untamed monster that is the rising cost of health care in this country.

Is Hillary Clinton headed to jail if Trump indeed becomes the leader of the most powerful nation in the world (seems like America was already pretty great before this election)? Not likely. If she can be imprisoned for email impropriety, what larger skeletons lurk in the closet of The Donald, a man caught on tape bragging about his sexual conquests, real or imagined?

What, then, will be the future if Clinton is in charge of things as our alarm clocks ring on Wednesday? Nearly half of the electorate will not be pleased. And, unfortunately, the lid on Pandora’s jar (read the myth; it was not a box) has been opened, and the aggressive stances that characterized the opposite side will not be easily assuaged.

If nothing else, the Trump candidacy legitimized the complaints of those disaffected, dissatisfied, disgruntled and disillusioned citizens who do not believe the traditional rules of engagement still apply in this country.

Clinton made history when she became the nominee of a major political party. Has the glass ceiling finally been shattered for women? Will the centuries-old problem of paycheck inequality be solved once and for all? Not likely. But, steps have been taken to resolve the issue.

Should gun owners fear the feds will be coming for their weapons in the event of four more years of Demo­cratic party rule? No. Despite all the heinous firearm atrocities that have occurred in the past two terms, nothing has changed.

In fact, ownership of guns have soared unabated during Barack Obama’s tenure. Weapons sellers and manufacturers should be thanking him for re-invigorating the market. We are no closer to restricting high-capacity, semi-automatic and automatic rifles than we were when the Republicans left office.

Whatever the results of the election, we are all still Americans. The sun will come up in the morning, and life will go on. The best possible outcome would be that whoever is leading our country when the dust clears, we ignore those who believe our best days are behind us, and those who predict the future will only bring darker days.

The truth is, the only thing we can control is what happens to us today in our small corner of the world. It is up to us to make the most of that opportunity.

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