By the time you read this, we will know who the 45th president of the United States will be – we hope.

This issue of The Commercial Record went to press before Nov. 8; at the time, Hillary Clinton was leading the polls nationwide and was likely to win Connecticut. Also at the time, Donald Trump had refused to confirm that he would concede the election should he fail to capture the requisite number of votes. Furthermore, as polls figures failed to show a clear victory by either candidate, the possibility of another Gore v. Bush loomed large.

Whatever the result, one thing is for certain – the election has passed, and we can all move on from another bruising election cycle.

Theoretically, anyway. The current political climate in America will likely linger long past Nov. 8, or indeed Jan. 1, no matter the election’s outcome. Our next president will have a very long road to reconciliation.

The New York Times reported Trump supporters calling for armed insurrection in the event their candidate did not take the White House. The disillusioned Sanders supporters, having already lost that fight, are in danger of disengaging from politics altogether – a crushing blow for the dominant parties that work so hard to win their votes. The third-party candidates’ supporters, rarely taken seriously, derided as foolish and naïve, have the capacity to do real damage to the establishment (if they can get their acts together).

Less speculation exists on the post-election actions of Clinton supporters, likely because they’re the odds-on favorites to be jubilantly celebrating.

Regardless of how the country voted, a large portion of it is – and will remain – very unhappy. They will have every right to be; if this lengthy and depressing election cycle did anything, it exposed the grinding misery of the American public.

That misery has deep roots in our nation’s recent history. It comes from Jim Crow, the Great Recession, climate change, income inequality, rampant opioid addiction, seismic socioeconomic changes, etc. etc. And it is not going to go away just because the polls have closed.

This ugly election is concluded; will the disappointed voters accept the will of the people? Will they settle into grumbling and wait patiently for 2020? Will the two parties take a good, long look at how their actions and positions align with the rest of the country? Or will they carry on with business as usual?

Rarely does progress result from inaction; pointing out the problem is only the start. From that must come conversations – like the ones the country has been having lately as our scars and grievances have been exposed. It’s too soon to say whether those conversations will result in any actual, sustainable and meaningful change in our political process – but we must keep having them.

The president of the United States of America, with as much power as he or she wields, will not be able to save us from ourselves. We must do that, together. It’s a scary world out there, folks, and there’s a lot of work to be done to heal our great nation. Let’s start by talking to each other – and listening to the answers.