As we move forward the fix is all on us

So what did it take?

A shower, a bath — or both?

Maybe taking advantage of a few unseasonably warm days recently and stepping into the new automated bay at the Brown Bear Car Wash in Cheney, sans car?

Regardless, it likely took a lot to wash off the crud we’ve been spattered with along the road of the 2016 presidential campaign.

But it’s done, for a few days at least until we start hearing rumblings for 2020. And don’t we somehow as a nation have to move forward?

While the race was potentially a close one, or a blowout in either direction depending on which pollsters and pundits one might have followed, one thing seemed sure — no matter your political leaning — can we sink any lower?

Would not it be nice to take the glass half full path moving forward and see if there is any way that the greatest nation on the planet can fix itself?

After all, the U.S.A. has rolled up its sleeves on many occasions and figured out how to build the better mousetrap or help rebuild the world after war. We are across the board a nation of good for all mankind.

Which begs for the question, how did we sink into the cesspool we’ve waded through for seemingly the past century. Oh, it was really only 800 days since this now completed political season began?

History will reflect on the 1976 presidential election when Jimmy Carter beat Gerald Ford. That election, 200 years into our nation’s birth, ended a tumultuous period in the nation which included the resignation of President Richard Nixon two years earlier.

We had just traveled through a period of time being arguably as divided a nation as we are today. The Vietnam War, civil rights strife, energy woes and political assassinations were among the things that chipped away at the nation’s personal well being.

Slowly we emerged and actually seemed to mend some of the divide. Even Congress sometimes worked together for the common good.

Then came 2000 and the presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore that ultimately had the Supreme Court intercede. The ideological Grand Canyon suddenly seemed to appear right before our eyes.

Fueled by the 24-7 news cycle, born in 1980 with the advent of the Cable News Network (CNN you know), and others like MSNBC and Fox.

More recently with social media, our windows to what goes on in the world can be unfortunately filtered. Be it bias in the media or the craziness of some of the junk that is presented on an unfiltered Internet, unless we spend more time to dig a little deeper the truth can become very hazy.

There has probably never been a better example than what we’ve just suffered through.

Which begs then for us to find the pathway forward, out of the stinky swamp.

As retail consumers, many of us will likely spend more time researching the purchase of a flat-screen TV with which to watch the Seahawks take on the Patriots this week.

Ask yourself, what kind of time did you really invest in learning more about the truth — what there was of it at least — in the recently completed bout of mud wrestling disguised as a presidential campaign?

Answers are out there, but like attending school board or city council meetings to see how they spend 10s of millions of dollars of your money, it takes a little bit of time and effort.

But at least you don’t have to go to the horrible extreme of actually having to leave your house.

We can yell and scream at the television at how horrible either of the two finalists on Survivor Island – White House Edition – are. But maybe we need to just look in the mirror and see who’s to blame.

Over time we’ve left too much of what goes on in Washington, D.C., supposedly in our name, to the people we send to represent us. By most accounts it is not working.

Throughout the history of this nation there have been many rallying points where we pulled together. One of the most notable came 75 years ago following Pearl Harbor. Or more recently, a mere 15 years in the past when we pulled together in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Once we’ve gotten all cleaned up — remember to wash behind your ears — is not this nasty battle a great time to rally together for a change?