For me, this week marks the Post-Politics time.

I mean to live in a world beyond argument, another era. I understand we are in for a divisive and challenging period in our culture, I am prepared for it. It has happened before, it will sort itself out in one way or another.

I am happy that throughout this entire political campaign I only had one intense and angry argument, and it was not about Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. It was with a Bernie Sanders supporter, she was a mirror image of the conspiracy theorists on the other side, only with different targets and suspicions  It was early on, I wasn’t prepared for what was to become the national dialogue, bloodless political violence was still a strange thing to me at the time.

Otherwise, I was able to write about the election a few times, and apart from the usual occasional death threat and anti-semitic slurs (I was called a terrorist once, and not for the first time), it was largely peaceful, and what dialogue there was civil and dignified. I appreciate the courtesy and respect shown me by the good people who disagreed with me, but decided not to hate me for having different opinions.

I don’t hate them either.

In a small way, I thought it was a breakthrough of sorts, and it meant a lot to me. It is possible. To my knowledge, only one person stalked off the blog, she said she would miss Red and Fate, but she hoped I got cancer.

Otherwise, so far as I know, it was not a great big deal to the people who follow me here.I am not trying to tell anyone else what to do, only sharing my experience of living.

I hope I was respectful to them as well. Lots of people visit here who disagree with me, and from my end, people who disagree with me are very welcome. They are the ones who will teach me the most.

I have learned several things about dialogue and issues. I will share them in the hopes that they might be useful.

First and foremost, I do not ever argue my beliefs, not in e-mail, not on Facebook, not on Twitter or text messages or in any other form. My beliefs are intensely personal, and my blog is a monologue, not a dialogue. My life is not an argument, I share my life in the way authors have always shared their lives in memoir form, and it is no a debate. That is formula for messing up the creative head.

It is also a violation of one’s independence and dignity. We live in the land of liberty, we have the right to our beliefs.

As we seem to learn again and again, but never quite remember, arguments solve nothing, fix nothing, resolve nothing, and do not change minds. For that, one needs conversations, and they are very different from arguments. Hatred is an infectious disease, the only cure I know for it is a meaningful life. When someone sends me a hateful message, I feel sorry for them, for I know a part of them must be broken. When I wish them a happier life, they get uncomfortable and usually vanish.

Secondly, I cherish facts, not opinion, and I believe in facts, not opinion. I think our culture is failing to understand the difference. When I began writing about the New York Carriage Horses, my idea was to find the facts and share them Other people did the same, and about 200 horses are alive and working contentedly in New York because of facts.

I understand that our current political system is failing to produce leaders most Americans are willing to trust and accept. That means the system is broken. Something has to change, either the system or our perceptions of the system. I am looking to see if there are any solutions I am comfortable with. I think there are. All of the people with the best ideas are on the edges of our society, they never get on television. Perhaps we have to look for them. Donald Trump has every right to run for national office, no one ever said the politicians have to come from within their very powerful and exclusive system.

If he wasn’t so creepy a human being, I imagine he would have won.

As with most problems and challenges, fear is not helpful, neither is a drift to conspiracy. Conspiracy theories are the fossil fuel of social media, they are super memes, they travel like wildfire and burn up truth and understanding.I like facing problems and challenges, Canada is wonderful, but far too sane and rational for me. I’m staying right on my farm, no matter who wins.

Here in Cambridge, N.Y., we have a practice of never talking politics with strangers, or even with friends. Our idea is that politics and opinion are personal things, and whatever a man or woman does in his own head or on his own property is his business. Small towns have to be like that, because we need one another and see each other all of the time. Need and familiarity breeds civility and courtesy.

You don’t want to tick people off who you might be calling a few days later to get you out of a snowdrift.

On this Sunday, I am excited about the possibilities and ready to try to be positive and useful.  As I write this, there is very little chance of Donald Trump winning, and the truth is, there has never been much of a chance of his winning. Revolutions are not conducted at rallies or on Twitter.

For me, this is a post-argument time. I am not interested in arguing, in hearing other people argue, or in hearing too many opinions about what I believe. Take it or leave it, but don’t argue with me about it.

Women and Latinos have dramatically altered our civic and political landscape in this election, and I am eager to see this Tsunami reveal itself and begin the transformation of our political system, a new America is emerging. It will happen.

The tragedy of demagogues, say political scientists, is that they ultimate betray the people who support them, because, by definition, demagogues are self-serving and ill-equipped to govern. In this election, we see that many white men have suffered, and I hope our new leaders are compassion and thoughtful about keeping our promises to them.

The way life works is this: we can only comprehend the present. The prophets of doom are assuring us things will be ugly and ever-lasting. Not a single one of them foresaw one single thing about this election, from beginning to end. Most of them sit on their hands in New York and Washington TV studios and shout (with a wink, usually) at one another, and either frighten or confuse the rest of us. I miss everything I know and what little I remember about Edward R. Murrow, the great CBS News chief correspondent. He did not shout and scream his ideas, he reported them carefully and thought about them. People trusted his facts.

I believe most  people want their government to function, and to do good. They will take us there.

We have no reason to believe these nasty prophesies bout the coming years are true or false, you’d think the pundits might have a bit of humility for having screwed up understanding a single thing about this election year. A new reality will emerge from this very new shock and circumstances, and we have no sure idea what it will be. There are no polls for the future, and the human spirit is unknowable.

I am something of a deranged mystic, and I believe a prophet will come and call us to build a world of compassion, community and dignity. This is my City On The Hill.

For many people, this election has been nothing less than a trauma, I have never heard from so many people so badly and deeply frightened. It is not, I think, to be fearful, it is a time to be thoughtful. To listen and think a bit. I hope the frightened people will see this period as a trauma, and treat it accordingly. It is a healing time, not an arguing time.

My goals have been transformed by this election, I am a citizen who is awake now and paying attention. Liberty is really not anything that should be taken for granted, especially in a world where so few people have any.