Getting to work: Winning was the easy part. Now it is time to govern.

Bottom line: The Republicans are very, very happy with their election victories.

And although we have not heard the word "mandate" bandied around as we have in the past, there is no question, Americans had something to say to Washington.

But now that the signs are down and the mudslinging commercials have been put away for another year, the next phase of this adventure starts.

It is time to get to work.

So, if the Republicans and Democrats in Washington really got the voters' message, they will stop the sniping, quit the grandstanding and the soundbites and get to work on fixing what is wrong in this country.

If the Democrats really got the message, they will start listening to the voters -- not just the ones they want to hear.

They will explore why although there has been relatively positive economic news, most Americans are still saying that they do not feel good about their economic futures.

They will realize that you cannot bury legislation in the Senate and get away with it -- all the while claiming their opponents are the party of "no."

And, hopefully, they will quit calling everyone who does not agree with everything they say a crazy, an uneducated bumpkin, a bigot or a Nazi.

And they might also want to think about the fact that there is power in the suburbs and the countryside that they have ignored. Perhaps they will see that you cannot really bring home victories if you pay absolutely no attention or discredit those who are salt of the earth, good, God-fearing people and heed the advice only of the high-faluting city folk.

They might also want to think about not assuming that a voting bloc is theirs without doing the work to really listen to what those people need and want out of their representatives. This election proved that trust must be earned, and so, too, must votes.

(Hopefully the Republicans learned that lesson, too.)

And if the new GOP majority got the message, they will quit slipsliding around and stand firm when they have something to say -- and present real policies and real solutions.

They will get their message out and listen to the people who put them in office who are tired of bickering politicians and legislation that simply does not work.

They will not be the party of criticism and finger-pointing, but will be the party of new ideas and a commitment to the principles that built this nation -- and to the people who have made it stronger.

They will listen to ideas from the other side of the aisle if they have merit, and they will be ready to start over when one of their own ideas just is not going to work -- and make it better.

And if we have learned anything from this election, it should be that our voices count, that we have the power to decide our own futures.

We should have learned that mudslinging is not the same thing as an idea and that we can oust anyone who is not doing the job we elected him to do.

It is a liberating feeling -- and one we should remember whenever an election comes around.

Published in Editorials on November 8, 2014 11:34 PM