With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan–to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations. (Second Inaugural Address of President Abraham Lincoln)

I went today to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. It is a good place to visit the day after a contentious and hard fought presidential election, a reminder that however divided America may presently be, there was a time our divisions actually led to civil war. Today is the day that our current Vice President Kamala Harris chose to deliver her concession speech to President-Elect Donald Trump. I told my family who is visiting here with me not to underestimate this great tradition in our Democratic Republic.