On January 20, 2017, we will swear in the 45th President of the United States.  That person will be Hillary Rodham Clinton or Donald J. Trump.  There are scenarios where it could be someone else, but I just don’t foresee them happening.

It’s either Clinton or Trump.  

Whoever wins, I want to offer this: A Clean Slate.

Now, I don’t want this clean slate to be mistaken for “forgive and forget”.  On the contrary, no matter how much we can try, you can’t go back and correct the wrongs  My hope is for a clean slate of rights.  I will respect the new President because he or she will be the President of the United States.  I have always tried to respect that office even if I didn’t like the occupant’s policies.  

Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton will have my respect as incumbent Presidents until they do something to lose it.  At that point, the clean slate goes out the window.

Even with that, I still hope that our country can come together and wish our new President success because doing so would wish failure upon on country.  Presidents succeed and fail on their own, and they don’t need us to wish that for them.  I want President 45 to be a success so our country can move forward.

I also want a political atmosphere where we can discuss issues, agree or disagree, and not hate one another or be hated.  This is going to take a concerted effort from both sides.

If we can’t fix this, I’m really not sure where we go as a country.  I just know I want to hand off a political system to my grand nieces and nephews that I can be proud of instead of this current one that is an embarrassment to us all.

Now, don’t mistake what I’m saying.  I’m not advocating going into hiding if Trump wins for Democrats or for Republicans to retreat to their survival bunkers if Clinton wins.  What I’m saying is that we have a big decision to make on Tuesday but a bigger decision about what kind of country we want to be afterwards.

Democracy needs your voice at the polls on Tuesday.  Please make plans to get out and vote.  It is a consequential election and there will be some very tight races on the ballot.