The robo-calls have stopped, yard signs are being taken down and real commercials are back on T.V. President Barack Obama was re-elected for another four year term. The election may or may not have turned out to your liking. What’s important is the fact that we still live in a democracy. If you think the president is going to drastically change your life, just remember that we also have a congress. The system of checks and balances is there so that no one entity can have too much power.

Facebook wars involving politics started long before the election. While the derogatory postings about other political parties and the people who support those parties may have calmed down after the election, they are by no means over. After the major news networks declared an Obama victory, some liberals gloated harshly and some conservatives lashed out. Unfriending because of these comments even occurred.

Some opponents of Obama claim that now the economy is going to fall and we’ll slip back into recession because of his policies. Some have claimed that the Nov. 7 slump in the stock markets is proof to that.

Yes, the stock market sank on the day after the election, but it did well on Election Day. This is a typical cycle for elections.

After Obama was elected for his first term, there was a surge in ammunition and firearms sales for fear of higher taxes on ammunition and stronger gun control. People were worried that ammunition and firearms were going to be hard to aquire because of policies that Obama was going to enact. Manufacturers ramped up production and shortly afterwards retailers were resupplied with ammunition and firearms.

After being re-elected, ammuntion and firearms sales rose again. Manufacturer of firearms and ammunition Smith and Wesson stock price rose by 10.8 percent after Obama was re-elected, indicating an increase in sales. All of this worry over gun control when the only laws Obama signed as president were the laws allowing firemars on Amtrak trains and in national parks.

People tend to act stronger on feelings of fear and worry than they do on hope, but some of the greatest things to happen have indeed come from hope. No matter what your views may be, if you maintain hope and a positive outlook, good things will happen. When you focus less on the negative, you can put more of your energy toward the good. We can’t let our differences consume us in such a way.

We need to move forward. Wherever you think we are at as a country, we need to move forward in a non-partisan manner. Whether you think we are at the bottom of a very long rope that’s about to hang us, or you think we are in the best possible position we can be, if we all focus on moving forward, we will.

The world will still turn, time will still pass and challenges will always present themselves. Events will continue to test our resolve, and it’s up to us as a nation to overcome them. Whether you’re red, blue or green, we are all still red, white and blue.