Hello readers, and happy Halloween! Is there anything scarier than this election cycle? We here at Banker & Tradesman don’t think so!

Maybe that’s a little flippant. There are certainly plenty of scary things in this world – climate change, violent dictators, wildly infectious diseases, the prospect of raising children in a world where all of these and more coexist. The election, at least, will eventually will come to pass and we can all move on.

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.

Already, the New York Times reports, Trump supporters are calling for armed insurrection in the event their candidate does not take the White House later this year. 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.

Less speculation exists on the post-election actions of Clinton supporters, likely because they’re the odds-on favorites to be jubilantly celebrating on the morning of Nov. 9. Should Clinton fail to capture the presidency, her supporters may take to the streets in another capacity.

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).

Regardless of how the country votes, a large portion of it will shortly be 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.

Once 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.