I’ve been thinking about all the years I taught the “Intro to American Government” course at state universities in Vermont, Mississippi and Montana - often two classes per semester.I always began by saying that “The American government was designed by its Constitution not to work. It continues to operate as planned.”

My first outfit on election night was a white jacket, in honor of the white clad suffragists who marched to give women the right to vote. The morning after the election, I wore black. Like many others, I’m still in mourning.

On Monday, December 19, seven prominent citizens – three from Vermont, four in New Hampshire - will assemble in their respective state capitols to participate in a curious, historic ceremony - casting votes for the next president and vice-president of the United States.

Like most, I’m glad the toxic presidential campaign is over. I’m happy with the results. But I’m not happy with seeing people so desperately distraught about the election in Vermont and across the land.

On the Friday before Election Day I came home to find my copy of Hillary Clinton’s memoir of her time as Secretary of State, Hard Choices, lying on the floor with half of its cover chewed to shreds. Because the only thing my dogs regularly destroy are squeaky tennis balls, I took this as a bad omen and said so to my dogs.

The recent nationwide vote has changed everything. I’m not talking about change in the sense of building walls, deporting undocumented immigrants or eliminating healthcare for millions of Americans – these aren’t changes one man has the constitutional power or authority to accomplish by himself anyway. Our system of checks and balances, however imperfect, hasn’t lasted this long simply to crumble in the face of one man with big ideas. So I couldn’t be happier with the changes I’ve seen since the

Nelson Mandela once observed that resentment is like drinking poison and expecting it to kill your enemy. That’s why the despairing, outraged anger we’ve seen following the Presidential election worries me, much more than the unexpected outcome. Yes, we’re honoring the peaceful transfer of power, but many of us are allowing anger to cloud our judgement.

I called my mother just before 11 o’clock Election night. I didn’t know the final outcome of the presidential election. But I saw the close races in Michigan and North Carolina and knew things were bad for Democrats and feminists. My mother, Beatrice Braun, is both. She’s 88. She served in the original lawyers’ network that became the NOW Legal Defense Fund. The state law legalizing abortion in New York was written in my parents’ living room – three years before Roe v. Wade. We only spoke

For months, I’d been gauging my view of what would happen in the presidential election based on what I read and learned. I looked at polls. I read the New York Times. I consumed traditional media – and more often than not, trusted it.

I’ll have to admit I was as shocked as anyone at the outcome of this election. I’m an aging liberal who voted straight socialist in my first election. At the time I was teaching in Jersey City at Public School #22, and the year was 1968. I was fed up with politics as usual, party machines and I wanted change! And now that I think about it, maybe if I’d come of age this year, I would have turned to Trump after Bernie got beaten – but I rather doubt it.