Tonight, a candidate wins. Tomorrow, we could all lose.

I’ve made a concerted effort today to avoid all news. I knew I wouldn’t be able to take the non-stop analysis of every nuance of election day. At the end of the day, either Obama or Romney will be elected President. And that’s the end of it.

Or is it?

What happens tomorrow? No matter who wins tonight, the country is still, to use the cliche, bitterly divided. I heard a statistic* that only 3% of all voters in the US were undecided, and the rest of the country was evenly split between the two camps. But that’s not the problem.

Differing view points is democracy in action. It is the manifestation of our most beloved freedoms to be able to think for ourselves and voice our own opinions, regardless of what others believe. And it is in coming at a problem from opposing sides that we find the best solutions, because we fully examine the problem and possible solutions. That is, when we come together to discuss them.

No, the problem is not that we are divided. It’s that we have come to despise each other. We have moved from belittling to vilifying to demonizing. The other side is not to be dealt with! The other side hate America!

The elections tonight will be won. But those victories won’t unite the country. Won’t end the battles. The vitriol. If we allow the rancor that is our current political discourse to continue, we all lose.

If we truly want a change (something both candidates have promised), we have to have a fundamental shift in our personal paradigms. For example, could we all please agree that if someone runs for office in this country, that person probably doesn’t hate America? Could we all please let go of the “My side is ALWAYS in the right” kind of magical thinking? We’ve become the rioting soccer fans of the sport of politics.

Here’s an idea: Let’s anonymously throw all the ideas on the table and vote for what we think is the best one, regardless of which party put forth the idea. Yes, I know that sounds similar to what the Simpson-Bowles Commission attempted to do, and we all know how that turned out. But what if we, the people, let our elected officials know that it’s OK to go with the best ideas, regardless of party affiliation? What if we, the people, in fact demanded that?

I hear people yelling outside, so it may be time to check the news. Or at least Facebook. Politicians have won tonight. Let’s make sure we all win tomorrow.

* I’m usually a stickler for sources (probably the history major in me). Right now I’m too tired to look this up. It was probably on the BBC or NPR. That’s where I get 99% of my news.