What happens now, Hillary Clinton?

Hillary Clinton has made a string of media appearances to promote the release of her new tell-all memoir, one of which was on CBS’ “Sunday Morning.†She started explaining during her interview all the reasons why she thought she lost. The only emotion she elicited from me was anger. Not anger at her, but anger at what happened, pun intended, in 2016.

Her new memoir, released Tuesday, dives into why Clinton believes she lost the 2016 election. She shoulders most of the blame, but she also places it on James Comey, Vladimir Putin, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, Barack Obama, Jill Stein, the Electoral College, stringent voter ID laws, the media, sexism and white people.

I realized constantly talking and thinking about the last election only made me, and I’m positive many other disenchanted voters, angry. We can’t move on from last year’s election if the only thing we can seem to do is dissect it and discuss it continuously.

I believe we’ve made strides since Trump was elected: he was unable to get Obamacare repealed through outcry from countless citizens across this country and his travel bans faced multiple legal and court challenges due to several judge’s orders and lawsuits. He has gotten remarkably little done since he took office, and that’s all because of us pulling together as American citizens.

But talking about the election again and again and again does nothing to solve the problem. In fact, it only makes it worse. Like it or not, Clinton has strong critics within the Democratic Party itself, so her lashing out at the very people she should have tried reaching will not help us going forward.

It will only serve to end the Democratic establishment as we know it — which has been the party of people of color, the LGBTQ community, women and many other minority and disenfranchised groups. 

The only thing we have in this country that will stand up for the rights of the little people will be torn apart by the very people who are a part of it if we can’t move on from one of the worst elections we’ve ever put ourselves through. 

And I say ourselves specifically because none of us are free from blame for last year’s circus. We all played a part in the downfall of our values and everything we hold to be true.

I don’t care if you voted or didn’t vote. I don’t care if you are white, brown, black, gay, straight, man, woman, non-binary, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Democrat, die-hard Bernie Sanders supporter, Republican, Libertarian, Communist, “South Park Republican.â€

I don't care if you care about politics or if you don’t care about politics; we all played a part in what happened to this country, because we all live here everyday. We all interact with one another everyday. And still, we can’t seem to understand each other.

The question Hillary Clinton should be asking is not what happened last year—it’s what happens everyday when we live near one another and still can’t seem to find some compassion for our fellow American. 

If Hillary Clinton wants to be the leader-in-exile of her supporters, then she needs to rally them together to a common cause rather than focusing on issues and events that continue to divide citizens of the United States. We can sit here and analyze what happened ‘til the cows come home, but what will that solve? What will that change?

On election night, a former editor-in-chief of The Daily Helmsman, Jonathan Capriel, wrote “the United States is not dead, but a great deal of Americans are dead to me.†So I’m asking everyone: is this the hill we want to die on? Do we want to let what happened in 2016 be what defines us for the rest of our existence?

Are we just going to lie down in the street and die because we don’t know how to communicate with each other anymore? Or are we going to wake up and decide it’s time to solve our problems? Are we going to decide it’s time to spread love and forgiveness instead of hate and deceit? 

America’s tombstone doesn’t have to say we died in 2016. We don’t have to keep beating a dead horse by talking about last year’s election ad nauseam. We can decide from now on we’re going to try to do better.  That starts with coming up with things we can all do today to solve the problems we face right now.

I dream of a future where “Clintonistas,†“Bernie Bros,†“South Park Republicans†and maybe even some real Republicans join hands and decide we’re going to make the United States a better country for all Americans. I have faith we will all come together and be stronger for it. So, Hillary, America, what happens now?