Barring a repeat of the 2000 presidential election, with its hanging chads and recounts, the worst of this election season is over. Thank heavens for an end to robo calls and TV ads and a mailbox full of promises from candidates of all political stripes.

By now, we should know who will lead us the next four years and not only on a national level, but locally as well.

And there is much locally and in our state that needs to be done. Our schools need improvement; our infrastructure isn’t keeping up with our population growth. Our environment is being used in too many instances as a dumping ground. We don’t seem to be getting much further in terms of ethic reform at the state level, either.

Yet the same holds true both locally and nationally: Regardless of who won Tuesday’s elections, the only way they’re going to accomplish anything is if we heal our divisions and begin to work together for the common good.

Those chosen to serve must be magnanimous in victory. Those who lost need to be gracious in defeat. This is no time for bad winners or sore losers.

Our country faces too many problems for us to continue to pull apart rather than together. It’s time to bury the hatchets and go to work to make this country the America of our forefathers’ dreams instead of settling for something short of that goal.

We need to make hard choices on everything from reducing the deficit and easing the load on our stressed armed forces to protecting our environment and much in between.

None of that will be accomplished if the politics of old continue, with their rancor and division, finger-pointing and distrust. Not everyone will agree on how we should move this country forward, but only when we accept one another’s intentions as good can we begin the process of moving ahead. This is the United States of America, after all, not a government of one political party or the other. It’s time we put politics aside.