I've been thinking about traditions this week.
Think about the fact that since the day of the town crier, the very birth of the country, we gather each year as citizens for a bloodless coup; the governed deciding who shall govern.
It's not done with guns or foot soldiers in the street but the simple act of pulling a lever, or touching a screen.
As I waited in line to vote this week I saw a mother take her young daughter into the booth with her to point out how the machine works and hopefully why it matters.
But there is another tradition that seems to be getting away from us.
Generations past also understood that there would be differences of opinion and the campaign trail was the place to hammer those differences out.
Trust me, negative campaigning is not a recent development.
But the tradition was, no matter how hard you fought or how vehemently you disliked the opposition, when the election was over, that was that.
The people had spoken, the lot had been cast and everyone's job then became to come together under the new leader as Americans, a United States.
The President was the President, like it or not.
Just this week I got an email newsletter from a third party think tank group extolling the faithful that this was not the time for compromise; that the President did not have the mandate of the people and we can not give in.
Compromise does not mean giving up your core principals; but failing to consider compromise in a two-party system is a failure to govern.
It's astonishing that some would rather have the nation sit idle for four years than consider giving the other guy even a little credit in moving the country forward.
Oh contraire, you true believers, this is exactly the time for compromise, to search for common ground, to put the greater good of the country ahead of the partisan politics.
What a great tradition that would be!
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2013 WorldNow and WICU. All Rights Reserved.
