United we stand, divided we fall

M
y heart literally hurts.
As I’ve watched the election results unfold, I’ve become more saddened by the minute. 
Not because of the results of the election. It didn’t turn out as I had wished. But what is tearing me apart is to watch the reactions of people to those results.
I’m not a conservative and I’m not a liberal. I am a person who wants equality for all. I want to support the ideal of democracy and capitalism - tempered with the necessity of some socialist protections.
For the last 18 years (at least), this country has been divided by partisan ideals, and because of that divide we’ve accomplished nothing but producing a culture that is at each other’s throats at all times.
I dread presidential elections because of the hatred they bring out in society. Family and friends become torn apart because of political differences and that is heartbreaking. 
We look at an election map and see a large geography of the U.S. colored red, but we never consider the population of the small amounts of blue that truly encompass huge amounts of population. 
Big cities scream for the elimination of the electoral college, but that is the only thing that gives that huge amount of red on the map a voice.
I sit here in my small town as a social studies teacher and I am distraught at the lack of understanding that much of society has regarding how our government truly functions. 
Yes, the president of the United States has considerable power. In fact, it is the most powerful position in the world. However, he (or she) doesn’t have absolute power.
The POTUS does not have dictatorial powers, and we need to settle down and remember that. Yes, he (or she) has the power of executive order, however he (or she) cannot act alone. The Founding Fathers ensured that one individual acting on their own could not control our country.
As the 2020 election has been playing out, I have been more attentive to the Congressional election as that is the governmental body with the most power, which is just as the Founding Fathers intended.
We have a conservative Supreme Court and a Republican controlled Senate. Therefore, a Democrat controlled executive and a Democrat controlled House of Representatives will not be able to dictate policy.
Truly, the only people who can destroy the United States of America are the people themselves. Abraham Lincoln, one of the most divisive presidents of all time, quoted from Scripture and reminded the Union in the midst of the Civil War that a nation divided against itself could not stand. 
Yet, here we are again...divided against ourselves.
We are not only a government that provides checks and balances at the national level of government, but we are also a nation that divides the power between the national and state governments. So, how can we get so distraught over the election of one man?
I fear that we have let the media, and probably worse, the social media work us up into a national hysteria where we believe everything that any Tom, Dick or Harry spouts from their own ideas. 
We may not like the outcome of this election based on our own ideals, however we also need to look at how close this election was. Obviously, there is not an overwhelming consensus which makes me feel a little more comfortable that the president cannot simply do whatever he (or she) pleases in office. 
Again, I am more concerned with the reaction of the people over the outcome of the election and I beg of people to relax and remember how the government of this great nation functions. 
We’re all good unless WE choose not to be. Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen.