The King is Dead. Long live the King.

President Barack Obama is leaving office on Friday. The swearing in of Donald Trump as president happens the same day.

Usually it takes a while before "swearing at" the new president begins. Obviously the swearing, snide remarks, and insults are already in full swing.

Mr. Trump is very capable of tweeting insults, snide remarks, with swearing implied. However, he is not capable of graciously receiving from others what he so willingly gives out. He clearly likes the battle. It is unclear if he likes solutions, unless they are his.

This is going to be a presidency like no other. To be sure, we have had braggarts, egotists, and those easy with insults in office before. Just not in our lifetime.  The country has survived.

Today our world is very different and much smaller. There are people out there who want to destroy us, either with death, or destabilizing our country. Many question if Mr. Trump is up to the task at hand. I am one of them.

Our country is in political turmoil. The two parties through decades of posturing, have skillfully created an "us vs. them" mentality. It permeates all aspects of the federal and some state governments. It negatively impacts our daily lives.

Some of my friends are withdrawing from public discussions because it has become so rancorous. They believe nothing good comes from speaking up.

In my opinion, now is the time to pay more attention. If you don't like where we are going, you need to speak up.

Write and call Senator John Thune, Senator Mike Rounds, short-termer Representative Kristi Noem. Let them know how you feel about the state of our country. Let them know you expect results which benefit Americans, not just political parties.

Starting to balance the budget and finding ways to deal with healthcare which provides quality service and doesn't break both your piggy bank or the country's, would be good places to begin.

Both political parties and our incoming president need to hear from us. They probably don't want to hear what we tell them. All the more reason to make the effort. Our political system is broken. Our government is not far behind. If we don't speak up, nothing good will happen.

Under that scenario, we all lose.


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