Just my own personal views after the election. These come from my rural background on a dairy farm in Wisconsin, my business career in Chicago, and my spiritual beliefs.

My rural upbringing, which strongly favors independence and hard work but not much money, generally leans toward discontent with the way Washington has been operating. My business career showed me striking value differences between how I grew up and how corporations operate. My spiritual guidance constantly implores me to slow down, listen to others, resist anger, keep expressing views without attacking others, and always give thanks for life and good friends.

CHANGE was the grand motivator in this election; change from “political establishment,” favoring the Washington elite, to “political honesty,” favoring the average American.

So, the way I view all this is that the Democrats are still a strong and well coordinated political party. They will find new leadership and continue growing and building strength. The Republican Party has been given the gift of national leadership and control of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of our government. The party is still fractured.

After all this initial celebration and glee has settled down, the Republican Party still has oodles of work to do to come together. Many “establishment” folks are being given Cabinet posts, secretaries of this and that, and are continuing to function in the House and Senate. Many questions hang out there: What differences will we actually see? Will “big money” and “greed” be given the ol’ “heave-ho”? Will Trump’s promises for change actually manifest as change? Will many of Trump’s enthusiastic following have found jobs, be happy, and still want to support his “great America” beyond 2018?

The “fly in the ointment” in all this, of course, is Donald Trump himself . Will his character and emotional state have become compatible with what it takes to be an effective leader of the free world? Yes, CHANGE is definitely being called for. —Bob McClellan, Polson