At this point in the 2016 election cycle, I feel pretty confident in asserting that most of us are pretty disgusted with the tone of our political discourse. Regardless of which side you are on or for whom you are voting, the vulgarity of this year is matched only by the frustration that many educated voters feel every time our candidates get anywhere close to discussing an actual issue our country faces and go back to mudslinging.

What are the candidates' plans to fight extremist terrorism, really? What about prison reform? Taxes? Minimum wage? Term limits? The healthcare debacle? Any actual immigration policy that doesn't include building a wall or tearing apart millions of families?

I'm at a loss for words, to be quite honest. My first presidential election and I've been handed this ridiculous imbroglio, and I know I am not the only to ask myself this question: what will happen to this country if [Candiate A] wins?

Well, unless Russia is actually trying to start a nuclear showdown, then America isn't going to cease to exist despite what people on both sides claim if the person they're supporting doesn't win.

That's bologna.

No matter what happens, America is going to make it. We've survived assassinations, two world wars, a Cold War, a Civil War, presidential impeachments and resignations. In almost every case, the President's ability to lead was seriously called into question. History may tell a different story, but all in all, it's pretty safe to bet on America.

Okay, so let's say you hate the other candidate and really think they could spell the end of the Union. What are you going to do if they win? Sit around for the next four years and hope they misstep at some point? Are you kidding me?

Whether you like him or not, whether you agree with his policies or not, or whether you believe that a Constitutional law expert tends to follow the letter of the law or not, President Obama has faced unprecedented obstruction at just about every turn. In a country as diverse as ours, it's hard to believe that not a single conservative agreed with him on any major issue, yet that is definitely what that looked like. The past eight years have been absurd, and the previous eight weren't much better - Yes, President Bush received similar treatment from an equally hostile Congress. Obstruction is alive and well in both major parties.

The bottom line is that the person you support isn't always going to win. You can either take the easy and cowardly road after defeat by pouting and obstructing, or you can take the respectable and patriotic road by working with fellow Americans to solve problems, and stop tearing down every person who disagrees with you by calling them “an idiot who hasn’t read the Constitution”.

I’m not asking for people to be less passionate, I'm just pleading that their passion doesn’t blind them to the complications of the bigger picture. We are not and never will be a one-issue-at-a-time country - we’re just too big for that. There will always be someone who knows more about an issue than you do, but that doesn’t mean you can’t contribute. Don’t let yourself be talked over, but try not to talk over other people.

The bottom line is this: America will survive, but it doesn’t matter who is in charge. There are too many fail-safes, checks and balances, and people in the room for our country to go down because of who wins in the Electoral College and moves into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. America will survive because we want it to, but the past 16 years sure don’t make it seem like we do. I think we can still turn that all around, and we must. If we don’t, my generation and the ones following it will still be cleaning up messes which we had no part in making.

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are just two people. Two people who have made and continue to make mistakes because they are human. However, that doesn't matter. What matters is the other 350 million people in the country whose names won't be on the ballot.

Yes, I may be overly optimistic, but somebody has to be.