On July 4th, 1776, The United States declared indepence from Great Britian, and that is how this whole mess started. Wanting and deserving their freedom, the framers of our nation broke with its motherland and set up a government of its own. It wrote two documents, The Declaration of Independence, in which they declared themselves a free country and then spent the next few pages just really bashing Britian and the King. And the Constitution, where they framed out what they felt would be a successful and productive Government and outlined almost everything they could think of to help people be a part of a great democracy. A democracy, for the people and by the people. Almost 240 years later, that government came to a crashing stand still, as the country held their breath in anticipation of who was going to be the next president. When the dust settled, Dondald J. Trump came out on top and is now our President-elect. If you are anything like me, this passionate debate and highly publicized election in the political world left you with some questions, so this is my attempt to answer some and offer up some random knowledge about politics and our government you may not have had before. If there is anything to gain from reading this, is you will sound smarter to all of your peers during a discussion about politics and will impress your family at Thanksgiving dinner that you know more than they expected you did.

I would also like to add a small disclaimer to this before anyone reads it. I am getting my minor in government and have grown up in a political household. I did my best to write this with as little bias as I could, and also worked hard to double check what I said was factual. With that being said, if I got anything wrong, offended you, or made you mad with my words, please contact me. The only way I can learn is if I am correct and the only way I can fully and well roundedly understand something is if I hear all sides.

1. Does my vote matter?

Yes, well sort of. You have a civic duty to vote. It is not a privilege or an honor, it is a duty a responsibility, so you should always vote if you can. In states like Louisiana, your democratic (or blue) vote won't do much to change the state from red (republican) to blue, but your voice will be heard, just not very loudly. In swing states, like Florida and Iowa, every single vote matters, your one vote could just change the outcome of the election, but that is why we call them swing states. Interestingly enough, in America, a candidate can win the popular vote, or who the people favored the most, but lose the election. That has happened twice in recent times, the first when President George W. Bush ran against Al Gore and the second being this election. Hillary Clinton and Al Gore both won the popular vote, but not the votes of the Electoral College and those are pretty much the only votes that matter. One thing you might not know, is that while Trump may have secured 270 electoral votes by winning in the polls for those states on November 8th, the Electoral College still has not officially voted yet, meaning he has not officially won the election yet and could technically, though very unlikely, still lose. For more about the Electoral College I urge you to google it. Mostly because I won't waste the time of the people who don't care and condensing it down into article form is almost impossible, but really Google it, it is so NOT what you think it is.

2. What happens in a presidential election when there is a tie?

This was a battle to death election. Before Trump swept the board, the predictions were that it would be one of the closest elections in history, which made me wonder, what happens if they tie? You would think the framers of our nation would have chosen an odd number of Electoral College electors, but they did not. 538 people make up the Electoral College, meaning there can in fact be a tie. So if there is one, what happens? A tie would occur if neither candidate reached the 270 votes needed to win the majority of Electoral College votes. If this happened, the process then becomes completely out of the public's hands, and I do mean COMPLETELY. In the event of a tie, the responsibility, then falls to the House of Representive, yep, those guys, to choose the president while across the hall, the Senate is in charge of picking the vice president. In the House of Representatives, each state gets one vote, the magic majority number being 26 for a candidate to win. Representative have the choice of voting for any person on the ballot, not just the primary candidates. The Senate, however, has to choose from one of the two primary candidates running for Vice President and needs a majority of 51 votes for the candidate to become the new Veep. But wait, there's more. If for some reason, these two historically divided bodies can't decide a majority, we've got a plan for that too. If, by inauguration day, January 20th, the House of Representatives has still not voted a majority, then the vice president-elect becomes president until the deadlock has ended. The vice president-elect being whomever Senate voted on to be the next veep. If for some reason the Senate hasn't chosen a veep by then too, then the Speaker of the House takes over until everyone gets their shit together. So remember that next time you vote in your House of Resprentatives and Senate elections. To see what this would look like if it actually happened as well as get a good laugh, I point you in the direction of the HBO series entitled Veep. Seriously, it's great.

3. Why are people so mad at those who voted for third party candidates? Weren't they just exercising their right to vote freely?

Voting for a third party candidate is not always a bad decision, but voting for a third party candidate that has just as much of a chance of winning as you do is a bad decision. Think about it like this, if neither CNN or Fox news has ever mentioned the guy you're voting for, nor do they even say his name on election night, you went wrong. In this election, we saw a lot of Millennials voting third party just because they did not like the two primary candidates. In that situation, I would argue that not voting at all would have been a better choice. If you felt like you were making some sort of statement or stance against the system by voting third party, then I am here to tell you no one heard or cared about your indifferences. And more than that, we as a whole, the Millennails who did vote, all of us democrats, republicans, liberals, tea party members, ect, are disappointed and embarrassed by your actions. No matter who you are or what you stand for, one of the two candidates had to be the lesser of two evils, and that is exactly how you should have voted. By voting third party, you essentially wasted your vote in one of the most historic presdidental elections in recent times. Way 2 go u kewl kids.

4. What does it mean in the political world that Trump won?

Trump being elected president means that the Republican party is back in power. They will control all three branches of the Government. They will have the majority vote in Congress, have a Reblican in the oval office with one finger on the nuclear codes (congrats Russia), and those two bodies combined will seat a Republican justice on the Supreme Court, filling the vacancy left by the death of Justice Scalia and shifting the court to a majority of Republicans. This means your guns are safe, your babies will be born, health care will go back to being only for people who can pay for it, your borders will be protected from all foreign enemies and foreign people because who knows if they actually need help or if they're here to kill us all, doesn't matter because we probably won't ask. America will be America again. Land of the free, execept from raising taxes and home to the people who are already here. **Disclaimer: this response is highly sarcastic and bias. Please take it as lighthearted as I wrote it.

5. How much power does Trump really have? Can he really do all of this damage that some people say he will do?

Trump as an individual or in his role as president does not have as much power as people think. While he considered one of the most powerful people in the world, his power is limited by congress. He cannot just pass any law he wants or do whatever he feels. The framers of our nation made sure that no one branch of our government will have more power than the other, that's what we call checks and balances. His biggest weapons will come in the form of executive orders and vetos.While Trump might be able to "do damage" from a democratic or liberal point of view, he cannot completely bring this nation to its knees.

6. Does it matter that Trump has never held a political office before this one?

Would it matter to you if your Doctor had never gone to medical school? Would it matter to you if your hair stylist had no experience cutting and dying hair? Would it matter to you if your golf teacher never played the game before? Many people will argue that it doesn't actually matter that Trump has no political experience, I just respectfully disagree. To run the our country and government in a productive manner, the person in charge has to know what they are doing. The need to how every little part of our system works. I have no doubt that Trump will have advisors and learn as he goes, but it's unsettling to think that the most powerful person in our nation has no clue how to do his job yet. He has never sat through a meeting of the Senate or the House of Representatives (to my knowledge), he does not know the ins and outs of Capitol Hill, he has never taken part in writing or attempting to get a bill passed. He has gone to court, so there's that.

7. What happens now?

A lot of people will tell you it is up to us now. That we need to stand up and make a change and be the voice, but the bottom line is what we do now is nothing. None of us are going to go up to capitol hill and protest Trump's decisions. None of us have even the smallest amount of power to change any of the outcomes. We can vote when the time comes and hope it goes our way. We can exercise our right to elect a different president after Trump's first term. We can get on social media a complain and tweet. But the remains we have made our bed and now we have to lie in it. What we can do is hope that Trump will be a change for the better, not a scary America killer like some think he is. Now is the time to get into heated debates with your friends, families and teachers. Now is the time to try and understand the views of others and make grab onto a tiny piece of what they believe. Now is the time to complain, but to let others do the same.Now is the time for hilarious memes and petty tweets. Now is the time to educate yourself if this is important to you, so when it is time for action you know what you are doing when you vote for something or elect someone. Now is the time to be appreciative of President Obama and those who came before him. Whether you liked what he did during his term or not, he was president, which is more than you can say.