Most of my political discussions start over a meal, and this year was no different.

The Saturday before the election, I was at Memorial Stadium for a brunch before the Minnesota game. One of the guys at the table was a black, retired electrician from Decatur. We have known each other for many years. My friend is an ardent Democrat, and at one time, was very active in the political scene in Macon County.

We love to argue politics, with both of us knowing the other guy is misguided. We had both voted early and knew we had simply cancelled each other out, but still we debated to the amusement of the rest of the table. We got serious for a minute and both agreed that neither of us had any clue who would win. We each supported our candidates, but more importantly, we both support this country. We will both be at the same brunch this Saturday at Memorial Stadium and we will both be mouthing off with each other.

On election day night, I was at a church dinner for the Little Galilee Camp. I was talking with an almost retired white contractor and the election was the topic of discussion. He stated he had cast his vote for Trump but that the vote didn’t matter because Illinois is such a blue state with Harris guaranteed the electoral votes. My friend voted because he viewed his voting as a civic duty, even though mathematically it could be viewed as a waste of time.

In retrospect, all three of us were wrong. The election wasn’t even particularly close. Harris won the west coast and the northeast, plus a couple of states in the center. Trump carried everything else. Harris increased her standing with college educated white women. Trump improved his demographics with every other voting block. Abortion and campaign dollars spent took second place to the economy and immigration. More Latino, Black and youthful voters supported Trump than ever before. In Illinois Trump’s loss was in single digits, a dramatic improvement from his previous two campaigns. The election clearly demonstrated that voters were primarily concerned with issues of national security and their pocketbooks, and not abortion rights.

I view national elections on a pendulum. Does the pendulum swing to the right or to the left. There is no debate that the pendulum had gone to the left under Biden, but how far? The public has historically stressed a preference for the center.

While I personally do not place Trump on the extreme right, he is unquestionably right of center. The public voted Trump in and a new Senate makeup that is also right of center. The House remains in contention with late counting of votes, but it also appears to be going to right of center. The question now is do the Republicans have the skill set necessary to get their agenda into law. Today’s Republicans have the tendency for infighting that the Democrats of yesteryear were famous for.

The public can anticipate that Trump will view this term as completion of unfinished business. The border wall will be restarted and more unauthorized entrants will be deported. Federal regulations will be eased for businesses.

Whenever one party holds the Presidency, the House and the Senate, there is a tendency to play hardball with the opposition. The majority can always say the public voted them in and the minority will plead for equity and fairness, for which a definition is always hard to find. The public can anticipate some serious rancor in the House and Senate.

There will also be street demonstrations. The key for all of this is at what level. Demonstrations are fully authorized by our laws, riots are not. Let the debate begin.

The conservatives have a golden opportunity to enact their legislation or they may revert to destruction by implosion. Open and honest debate is good for the nation. Let us hope that is what is coming and not petty disputes that accomplish nothing.