EDITORIAL: A 2025 without anger is possible. Really.

A new year. A fresh start. Out with the old. Wipe the slate clean. The road ahead is open. A chance for unity. 

Right? 

Well, no.  

Last year was the great divide in politics. Reasonable, thoughtful, respectful discussions, debates and exchanges on issues and candidates were, for the most part, out. Rants, name-calling and insults were in. If someone offered information you didn’t agree with, it was quickly dismissed as misinformation and cast aside. Or that person was labeled a liar and shrugged off. If a friend voted for a candidate you opposed, they were no longer a friend. 

The past year laid bare how profoundly we've forgotten the art of civil discourse. In the letters that filled our pages, we watched reasoned debate give way to caustic attacks. Facts became casualties in a war of narratives, dismissed not on their merits but on their source. The very concept of shared truth seemed to crumble.

Somewhere along the line we forgot how to be courteous to those who had a different point of view. We forget we could work with the opposition and even compromise. We forget to care about how someone else felt. We forget kindness goes a long way. When we do so, we are the very cause of the division we blame on the other side.

The finger-pointing has gone on long enough. 

We can do better. 

And in 2025, perhaps we will. 

Over 77 million Americans voted for Trump. Tens of millions opposed him. They are our neighbors, colleagues and family members. They are not an abstract enemy to be vanquished, but fellow citizens with whom we share a common future. 

This editorial isn't a call for political surrender or false harmony. It's a challenge to elevate our discourse. Fight passionately for your convictions. Challenge policies you believe are wrong. Hold leaders accountable. But do so while recognizing the humanity of those who see things differently.

Some will dismiss this as naive idealism. But the alternative — a democracy where disagreement equals enmity — poses far greater dangers than the risk of optimism.

It’s a Pollyanna point of view to suggest that in 2025, and even beyond, we should try to be nice to one another. But we’ll do it anyway. 

Happy New Year.

Or Angry New Year, if you prefer.