Yesterday, John Kerry conceded the presidency to George W. Bush. Rather than drag America through another ordeal like the one four years ago, Kerry is taking the high road and keeping the nation’s best interests in mind.

The Kerry supporters in our midst would do well to follow his example. The only thing a contested election does is hurt American confidence. Don’t get bogged down in hindsight and bitterness about “what should have been.”

However, Bush supporters need to remember that a second term is not the same as the Second Coming.

America’s problems will not be solved because Bush won the election. But nothing would have been automatically fixed by a Kerry win. We will likely face many of the same problems in the next four years that we would have faced with President Kerry.

It is foolish to maintain unswerving loyalty to one candidate because they will undoubtedly screw up royally at least once before the term is over. It is impossible for anyone to be the ideal candidate/ideal politician.

Most of the time, a well-informed voter has to choose the slightly better candidate, or worse, the lesser-of-two-evils candidate.

It’s the person who can cast a ballot without any reservations that is not to be trusted.

That being said, there really isn’t much chance of electing a complete failure. Bush is not stupid, despite outward appearances. Kerry is not a devil worshipper, despite that suspicious looking birthmark on his forehead. They are both competent leaders with strength. Either one of them would have made a fine president.

And the destiny of America cannot be changed by one person-Bush or Kerry. This country is made up of more than 280 million people, each of them equally important to the process.

Bush supporters: Don’t get too cocky.

Kerry supporters: The world isn’t over.

In 1,460 days, we’ll be doing this again with a whole new set of options. No one person will be president forever.

In the course of a voter’s lifetime, he or she will likely vote for the loser 50 percent of the time. Yet the country doesn’t go into decline and people don’t mass migrate into Canada and Mexico.

The country will be all right. We are not on our way to Hell in a hand basket just because George Bush won.

But the sun still would have risen in the east had Kerry won.

Our country has gone through the election process more than 40 times. I expect at least 40 more before one single election manages to determine our irrevocable national demise.

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