Its over... Prepare now.

So, its all done, the election is in the books. Clinton lost, the Electoral College did not sweep in and save the day. There were more faithless electors in this presidential election than there have been in many, many years. Two refused to vote for Trump, that was in Texas of all places, four refused to vote for Clinton, the rest were replaced, until they found electors willing to vote for the candidate they were assigned.

The talks about alleged Russian Hacks or influencing the election went largely ignored, as no real proof was released. Trump's statements were not enough. And most certainly Clinton's massive national popular vote lead did nothing. Trump won, and you know at a state level people spoke their minds, and all this jaw jacking about how Clinton would come out and still manage a win, were just that, jaw jacking.

Trump is officially the President-Elect, barring some unforeseen circumstances he will become the President of the United States. At this point, there is little people can do, but there are things we can do. As Sanders and others pointed out, we still have to fight his band ideas, just as we were supposed to fight the bad ideas of any elected official. It falls onto each and every one of us to make sure that we get our point across to all members of our local, state, and federal officials. We have to pull our collective weight on all things. If we are not listened to, we need to make sure that we do not continue to vote for those who would ignore us.

We cannot continue this voting for the lesser of two evils. If you find that is the case, then you know what you have to do. You have to find someone willing to run for office who is not the lesser of evils, you might have to run yourself. I never said, in the run-up or aftermath of the election, that anything moving forward would be easy, or fun. If anything, many people I associate with realized early on, that this would be extremely difficult, and while Trump is bad, potentially very bad, our job will be easier with him, as he will not pay lip service to these ideals that those on the left want to try, he probably won't even consider listening to those ideas, he won't speak for or against them.

You might ask, how does that make our job easier? Simply because he is the figure-head of the GOP now, he sets the policy tone, and he is responsible for the policy ideas. If he is totally ignoring us, which I believe he will, we have the chance to go in and change minds and influence the will of the people unhindered. We will not have a president who will speak out against our ideas, we will encounter the typical misinformation about our ideology, but without Trump saying it on a daily basis for the next several years, we can do a great deal. Sure, our Representatives and Senators have a great deal of influence with people, but even that is muted by their dismal approval ratings.

We have a small window of time Ladies and Gentlemen. We have less than a year before the next round of elections start. Really that is the thing, we have nothing but time. If you are a Clinton supporter, now is the time to let this past election go, move forward, and try to retake our states, and our Congress. Of course, I doubt that will happen, far too many are hung up on the blame game. Just as the crux of any election is for a candidate to draw people to them, now you have to try and bring back all those who walked away. But be warned, it is going to require more than lip service to ideals. It will require genuine effort to bring those who left back.

In 2017 we have four Representatives to congress being replaced. Two Governors who have hit their term limits, three states holding elections for state office, thirteen mayors, and a bunch of local offices being voted on. 2018 we will have the House up for election, Class I of the Senate (33 seats), thirty-six Governors, most of the state houses, and whatever else is put on the ballot. We can make headway in 2017, and reinforce in 2018. By 2020, we need to have everything in place to continue trying to retake the house, Senate Class II will be up for election, along with several other state and local offices. So, there you have it. The fight for the future continues now, and everyone who opposes what is going on in DC and our local/state governments needs to get on board now. Its time to let go of what has happened, and fight for the future we want, not linger in the past... Because we all got an eye full of what happens when you entrench in the past, and if the message hasn't gotten through to you yet, it will.