You’re mad. I’m mad. We’re all mad.

I get it.

You have a right to be mad or at the very least annoyed, as do I and pretty much every other American at this point in time.

Yes, this is a column about politics. I planned to never write one of these, but I figure, why not?

You may favor Trump. You may favor Clinton. You may believe that no one deserves to complain if they do not vote, and/or you may feel like you could never vote for anyone on the ballot this November.

That’s frustrating no doubt. All of it is.

Some have called this the worst election in U.S. history. I have not lived through nearly enough elections to make a call on that.

But I do know that whoever is elected will be my president, just as he or she will be yours.

I may not like it. You may not like it. But you know what? It’s still true.

I will still call him or her my president, and I will still hold great respect for the office.

Why? I believe in the system. I may not always like the outcome, but I believe in the system.

Some may say that is naive, and that may be true.

But that same potentially naive truth is what our founding fathers used to create this country. They didn’t know if it would work, but they believed in the system. They believed in compromise.

Do you think every person who signed our Constitution agreed with everything in it?

Now that’s naive.

They still made it work.

I’m not saying you have to change your stance on welfare and social security and the size of the military and abortion, but I am saying that not everyone is going to end up happy.

Recognizing the need for compromise isn’t failure. It isn’t a weakening of your beliefs. It’s the success of our nation, though.

George Washington did warn us about political parties after all.

I may not have lived through many elections, but there are still a few things that I know. I know them without a doubt.

No one person can single handedly ruin a country. The system of checks and balances was designed to ensure just that.

Also, times are not bad enough to warrant a civil war. Yes, I have heard that implied. That should never be a history that needs to be repeated. Did we not learn that the first time?

Speaking of history, the world’s longest-running democracy is only a few hundred years old — some say 250 years old, some say 350 years old and some say 400-plus years old.

But still only a few hundred.

It’s time to act like America is getting old.

Sarah Mahan is a staff writer at The Vicksburg Post. You may reach her at sarah.mahan@vicksburgpost.com.