The writer from Portsmouth who laments our not "coming together" after the 2016 election (“We have lost tradition of coming together as nation,” letter, Dec. 30), seems to have forgotten what happened after the 2008 and 2012 elections. It was then that the party that lost declared it would not cooperate with the president-elect on anything he wished to accomplish.

This was not just a small bunch of bitter Republican voters, but the Republican leadership in the House and the Senate. This was indeed lamentable, terribly destructive, and lacking in all civic responsibility given President Obama's clear victories.

If we are ever again to come together after any national election, it will require everyone — Republicans as well as Democrats — to be committed to working together and compromising for the sake of the national good. Unfortunately, after a year of Republicans holding the White House and both branches of Congress, there are no signs of any such commitment.

Roger B. Blumberg

Providence