Many people are upset and many are pleased with the outcome of the recent presidential election.

Some feel that the worst possible candidate was defeated while others insist that the worst was selected. What does this mean for our nation? What does this mean for the international view of America? What does this mean for the economic and social standards of America?

These answers are not simple, but what is simple is recognizing our own responsibility. We are a nation founded on a bedrock principal known as the Constitution. We are the people referred to in “We the people.” This means that we, and no one else, are liable and responsible for direction our nation progresses.

You have cast your vote one way or the other, but this does not free you from your civic duty to attend to the future developments of our nation. You are the guide of your own destiny. No politician can go directly against the will of the people if the people retain the spirit to demand that the nation remain “By the people, for the people.”

I am a Libertarian voter. I stand proud that I cast my vote for my beliefs, as the only wasted vote is a vote you do not believe in. Fear of one politician does not justify ignoring the shortcomings of another.

This is what I see as the great failure of this current election cycle. The people failed to demand better. The people refused to stand by their principals based on fear. The people have forgotten that the right to govern is given by the governed. It has come to be that people will sacrifice great swaths of freedom and justice to avoid what they see as even greater injustice and loss of liberty. This means that we as a nation have no one to blame except ourselves for what comes of such decisions.

We must look to the future as an opportunity to become greater. We must look to the past for guidance for the future. We must unite under the American flag and no longer separate ourselves by petty differences that have no bearing on the nation as a whole.

We, the people, must reclaim our place in the scope of politics and stop dividing ourselves into easily dismissed sub-nations. We can no longer blame the politicians or other governing bodies when it was us who have placed them in power. It is time we look inward and examine our own responsibility in the events of history.         We must do better as a people if we expect or leaders to do better. It is our duty as citizens to be the watch dogs of those in power as it is their duty to be the watch dogs of freedom. In this scope, we have both failed.

Whether you supported President-Elect Donald Trump or you supported Hillary Clinton, it is now up to you to stand by your convictions.

It is up to you to do your due diligence to insure that we grow as a nation. It is up to you to remain vigilant and steadfast in your beliefs to insure that your voice is not silent and thus dismissed. We are the masters of our nation’s destiny and there is no arguable point that could possibly contest that this was the intent of our forefathers. So stand and be counted. Speak your peace and find the understanding to allow others to do the same. In the end, regardless of who sits in a chair in our nation’s capital, it is we the people who should accept the burden of guiding our nation’s future. Take pride that we still live in a nation where we can be blessed with such a burden and honor.

Spencer Bryan is formerly of Tupper Lake and now lives in Plattsburgh.