This week Joe Biden will be inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States. It will happen in spite of the claims that the election was stolen, that there was widespread fraud and his presidency will be illegitimate from the start. It will go on even though the sitting president has not conceded the election and will not be on hand to pass the reins to his successor.

Even though Wyoming did not support Biden, even though many here believe he is taking the Oval Office by cheating, it is imperative that the state pull together behind the office of the president, if not behind the man wearing the mantle.

That means swallowing stung pride and toning down the ideology, at least for a time. If later on our elected representatives find issue with the ruling party, they are duty bound to object to proposals or edicts their constituents abhor.

But for a short while, there should be a kind of united front if you will, presented to the rest of the world. It is like the brothers who might fight among themselves, but no one else better try to test any one of them.

We can do this. We can maintain civility and work together to get the COVID vaccine available to everyone who wants it, to get the nation reopened, to get the economy gaining some traction. We can all agree it is time for that, past time.

So first, let us as a nation work toward that common goal of clinical safety for everyone, the chance to support our small businesses, to go to work or school without having to overthink whether it is worth our lives to go out for a pizza.

These things should be priority one and it will be that much harder if the discord and hate continue at the same level at which they are currently running.

Later on, when there are significant areas of disagreement — and there will be plenty of ground on which to disagree — then we can go at one another, hammer and tongs.

There can be fisticuffs — metaphorically speaking, it is to be hoped — on taxes and energy and student debt. It would not be America if we all agreed on what should be done to address our problems and challenges facing our nation and the rest of the world.

But if we cannot find some common ground, if we cannot work together at least for the moment to overcome our largest common enemy, this deadly virus, what do we have to look forward to? Do we want to be one of those nations that headline the network news each evening with another story of civil unrest, police and protesters clashing in the streets? Even worse, do we want to devolve into scenes reminiscent of Beirut or the Gaza Strip?

This is not a call for those who did not, do not support Biden to simply roll over and remain silent for the next four years. Instead, it is a request that all of us, no matter how we voted, to work first on protecting and safeguarding our own citizens. It is a call for a return to civility and  the standards of protest that have been observed in this nation for more than 200 years. Protest, certainly, but do it without damaging or destroying property, injuring or killing one another, without spreading the virus that is a danger to us all.

Granted, this nation started with an armed and bloody uprising that created in large part what we are today. But those who would rather eliminate what that revolution birthed and spin the country into anarchy cannot have their way in the name of calling for better government.

The first step toward moving forward is finding common ground to fight a common enemy.