Former President Donald Trump is now President-elect Donald Trump once again after he soundly defeated his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

Republicans are expected to regain control of the Senate and possibly retain control of the House.

Yesterday was a great day for Republican voters. The country was spared a Harris presidency, which would have resulted in the further expansion of government and horrible policies that would exacerbate the problems Americans are already facing.

But the battle is not over yet – by a long shot. Now, the nitty-gritty work begins, especially for limited government types.

Now that we will no longer have the distraction of ongoing national elections -- for the time being at least -- conservatives and libertarians need to shore up power at the local level now more than ever before. Trump’s victory may have given us a reprieve, but make no mistake, the government will continue to grow.

Going forward, right-leaning voters must focus on holding the president-elect accountable and push him to fulfill his promise of taking a chainsaw to the state Javier Milei-style. At the same time, we must remember that he is one man, and one man cannot even begin to dismantle the bloated monstrosity our federal government has become. The rot and corruption are too firmly entrenched in Washington, D.C.

Now, it is time to focus on areas where we have more of a say in what happens: Local and, to a lesser extent, state-level politics. We are already living in a time when the federal and state governments have shown a disturbing willingness to trample on our liberties with impunity.

Much of this is due to the fact that too many localities do not have mayors, city councils, sheriffs, and other offices that possess the fortitude to stand up and say “no” when higher levels of government throw their weight around.

Nevertheless, we have already seen examples of local officials using their positions to essentially nullify unconstitutional violations of rights. We saw this in New Mexico when the Bernalillo County sheriff refused to enforce the governor’s gun ban in Albuquerque. There have been plenty of recent examples of local officials standing up to protect the rights of the citizens in the communities they serve.

Republicans are in power at the moment. But this will not last forever. At some point, the pendulum will swing back toward Democrats, who will use this power with a vengeance. After another Trump presidency, they will be salivating at the thought of getting back in office to push their agenda. The president-elect’s victory is only a delay in the process. Right now, the authoritarian left will take time to regroup, figure out what went wrong, and begin formulating their strategy for taking back the government.

When this happens, we must be ready. The next four years will be key. Those who love liberty need to be paying close attention to what is happening in their communities. They need to know which candidates or politicians are willing to do right by their constituents instead of caving in to higher levels of government.

Of course, it is still important to influence state level politics as well. When we have the right people as governors and state legislators, it becomes even easier to resist overreach. At this point, it is all hands on deck. The question is: Will we take this lesson or merely try to delay the inevitable?