As I write this, we're waiting for a decision in the Presidential election. Something may change before I post this week's Courier in a few hours. Or it may not. We're not used to waiting for things, we Americans. Handling suspense is not our strong suit--most of us are descended from people who ended up in America because they got up and left their problems someplace else. "Short fused" and "quick on the trigger" are cliches that often apply to our national character. (Did you know that American citizens own almost 40 percent of all the guns held by civilians in the world, even though we have just 4 percent of the world's population?)

There is much angsting on both sides as to how the Presidential election could be so close. Both sides were positive they would see a sweeping win, with a concession speech by 10:00 p.m. One side is convinced they're the victims of fraud. The other side is asking each other how they could have miscalculated so badly. Both sides are aghast that this country contains so many horrible people who would vote against them. Racists! Socialists! Fascists! Antifa! How do any of us dare set foot outside our doors?

I voted early, but on Election Day, I wanted to see what was going on. I drove around in a loop and stopped at the polls. There were no ralliers or sign-holders at Blair Square. There were very few people outside at Old Murdock, although the signage was impressive. I saw a large pickup truck billowing with enormous banners and American flags, but he was all by himself--no convoys attempting to shut down traffic. The Town Clerk told me that voters were being polite and well-behaved, thanking the poll workers (which I will, too: THANK YOU to all of you folks who volunteered so many hours of your time during early voting, on Election Day, and afterwards, counting ballots!).

How did we reach this point, so many people are asking? How did America come to be so divided, and can we ever heal this vast rift and become more unified as a nation?

These are not rhetorical questions, and I have some fairly solid views on how we reached this place and what might, theoretically, start to pull us back toward a harmonious co-existence. As you probably know by now, I take a long historical view and don't look for quick or easy answers. Maybe I should write a book. That's a popular pastime these days. It also safer than speaking in public, because no one is going to want to hear what I have to say. Americans have become addicted to jumping onto the moral high ground and pointing fingers of blame at everyone else. We won't start healing as a nation until that stops.

I get very frustrated when people won't be rational. Take any point of view you want, as long as you can defend it reasonably and honestly. We've been over-valuing emotions for far too long. We're way, way out of balance and that has to change. The Left is just as guilty of this as the Right--maybe even more so. A saying from the 60s ran, "the personal is political." We've carried that idea to an extreme, so that now, all politics is personal and the personal is the only thing that matters in politics.

But the whole point of politics is to place the needs of the community, or the nation, above the needs of individuals. Remember our national motto? E Pluribus Unum? "From the many, one?" How many of us really believe that nowadays?

We all need to get off of social media, turn off our televisions and focus on the real world: the world where our families, our jobs, our schools and our town are the most important things of all. You can't believe what you see on a screen anymore. Talk to live people. Read books. Turn off the noise and just think. There's far too little thinking going on now. People let others do the thinking for them, televisions and Facebook and YouTube occupying all their attention from the time they get up until they go to bed (and sometimes all night long). How much of all that is really real? Can you even tell the difference anymore?

The deepest, truest and most important freedom of all is the freedom to think for yourself. That's been taken away from millions of people who don't even realize what's going on. And it's such an easy freedom to defend--you don't need guns, marches, armies or revolutions.

Just push the "off" button. Unplug. Stop looking at the screens. Go build something or read something or play with your kids. Want to know the best thing you can do for your country right now?

There you go.

Inanna Arthen