To the editor:

Many of us looked forward to the end of the election process on Tuesday. I know that I did; however this year I am concerned about the aftermath of our election process. It used to be that regardless of which candidate you supported for president, once he was elected, he was your president. We all agree to this in principle when we participate in the voting process.

It’s like playing a football game. You play with the rules that are present at the time the game starts and when it is over, there is a winner. But in the election process I continually hear people say, “He isn’t my president, I didn’t vote for him.” Actually he is your president. You may not have voted for him, but you gave your approval to the process that elected him, by participating in that process.

Please understand, no one contends for and defends their candidate more than I do. I have talked to everyone I know (and some I didn’t know) about my candidate and I strive for people to understand why I believe in him, but when the election is over, even if my candidate isn’t elected, he will be my president. I may not agree with his positions, or his ideology, but I will respect him as the leader of our country.

Perhaps if we could come to that position of respect after the election, not only about our political leaders, but about each other, we could actually accomplish something worthwhile as a country. Instead, I fear that we will fall into the chaos of bitterness and continued infighting that is interpreted by the rest of the world as a lack of unity and an air of arrogance. In the end that only makes us look weak, and that makes us a greater target for those who want to attack us.

Terry Jacobsen,

Lawrence