The implications and meaning of an election are never clear until the fog disappears and passions subside. That will take a while.

Some things we do know. Joe Biden had a clear message, “If you don’t like Donald Trump vote for me.” Donald Trump had a clear message, “Bad things will happen if you elect Joe Biden.”

The voters spoke. Biden won the election because a majority of Americans had grown weary of the President. A lot of them then voted for down ballot Republicans to make sure Biden doesn’t do some of the things Trump said he would.

Unlike Ronald Reagan’s campaign in 1980, when he offered a very bold agenda and asked voters for a mandate to do it, this election was a referendum on the President’s personality.

We now face a divided government with no national consensus on how to fix a broken immigration system, deal with china, heal racial division, save Medicare, improve a flawed health care system, or who should pay what when the bills come due.

Within two years, the three most powerful people in the government will be more than 80 years old. The challenges we face will endure long after they have left the national stage.

The future and shape of our Republic will be molded by those who come after them. A younger generation unafraid to lead, unafraid to offer some bold ideas and ask for a mandate to do it.

Both parties will now go through some soul searching. Both need new voices, and new faces, and a new set of candidates serious about navigating America through difficult years ahead.

There has never been a better time to walk onto democracy’s great stage; never a better time to offer a path in the marketplace of ideas. Those with the courage to do that will live richer lives for having tried. Those who win an election will determine the destiny of the world’s greatest and longest living democracy.