Doomsday will just have to wait

No matter what happened at the polls yesterday or what may happen in the courts in the weeks ahead, chances are, things probably won’t be as bad as it looks today.

Or as good, depending upon your perspective.

For months now, people have been inundated with the mantra that this is the most important election in our lifetimes. Maybe it is. And maybe this one’s no more or less important than the previous 58.

What’s likely is that Washington will be abroil for the next couple of months. But if you listen to some wisdom from U.S. Sen. Jim Risch, and we think you should, there’s plenty of reason for optimism looking ahead, no matter who’s got their sticky fingers on the nation’s biggest political reins.

For one, the Idaho senator notes, a vaccine for COVID-19 is not far away. Once it hits the masses — and Risch believes medical personnel and first responders will start receiving vaccines before 2020 is dispatched to the history books — the scale will finally begin to tip in the right direction.

For another, a second stimulus shot is probably going to be administered to the American body. That should help passengers avoid seasickness during any transitional tempests.

Further, Risch senses the American economy already on the cusp of a boom. A widely applied vaccine, he said, should raise all economic ships.

"I think when we come out of this, whoever's president is going to look like a genius," he told The Press editorial board.

But of all the messages Risch imparted, the one that rang truest and most encouraging was his central theme: That no matter who ends up being president or which parties control the congressional chambers, the civil war we’ve all been warned is coming, won’t.

Risch’s three-word explanation says it all: “This is America.”

No matter what happened yesterday, America’s going to be just fine, thank you. Through 58 presidential elections, we've always figured it out. We're not about to stop now.