I challenge you to look at them, not as uneducated white people, but as fellow Americans who live in states with some of the worst health care, lowest household incomes, and highest unemployment.

If these voters lived just outside an urban sprawl, they would be lower-middle-class voters on the other side of the economic divide who became the audience of the politically ambitious. Instead, because of geography and other factors, they’re just viewed as ignorant.

Our country has developed a culture of inclusiveness, political correctness, and tolerance, while at the same time becoming intolerant of Americans who live, think, and speak differently. While we are raising our children to treat everyone equally and be open-minded, why don’t we practice what we preach? Think about that while you wait in line at Starbucks. I won’t because the closest Starbucks is 20 miles away.

The American people will continuously lose if we allow this ugliness in our political system to endure. We must look in the mirror and examine how our divided cultures led to this political environment. And, as a nation, we must face a hard truth: The change needs to start with us.

So, instead of wondering what is going to happen going forward, we should all ask ourselves what are we, personally, going to do differently from now on? How can we be the change we, as a country, claim we want and yearn for? How can we be tolerant of those who see things differently, yet find the common threads that bind us together? If any good can come from this election, it must start with us.