All Americans who prize the concept of equality before the law and deplore corruption can rejoice at Hillary Clinton's defeat.  She lost, and America won a reprieve. Hopefully, fights over personalities can now give way to substantive debates about policies and achieving success in restoring our liberties.

The question is, will the GOP exploit our national respite?

Americans just lost their health care plans, saw their premiums skyrocket, or are forgoing medical care due to insanely high deductibles.  They need and deserve immediate relief.  Senator Mitch McConnell, Representative Paul Ryan, and the Republican Party promised to repeal Obamacare during elections in 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016.  In three of the four cycles, voters rewarded them with significant victories.

The new (115th) Congress meets for the first time on January 3, 2017.  By January 21, they owe the president a full repeal bill.  At least for one year, enrollment periods must be left open to let patients flee exchanges and find better, less expensive coverage.  Restrictions on policy offerings must be removed so insurance carriers are free to offer policies Americans can afford and use.  Interstate sales of policies should be allowed.  All IRS fines relating to Obamacare need to be canceled back to the beginning of tax year 2016, and government exchanges will be closed by December 31, 2017.  The poison pills in Health Savings Accounts – stealing contributors' money if they fail to use it by the end of the year – need to be removed.  Money being stolen in December has to be restored and rolled over to 2017

Rip open the system – remove all the constraints – and the free market will rush in with solutions.  Congress can spend the next 6 months debating and tweaking laws to address details, gaps, and long-term policies, but Americans need emergency relief from Obamacare immediately.

The House of Representatives also needs to pass a supplemental appropriation to fully fund the Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), so, on the afternoon of January 20, when the president revokes deferred action directives and frees the USCIS to enforce existing law, they will have the resources necessary.  They should also fully fund existing projects to secure the southern border with barriers, double-fences, and electronic surveillance.  After ten years of procrastination while bureaucrats and politicians made the perfect the enemy of the good as a delaying tactic, they are not entitled to the benefit of the doubt.  Planning and construction must be funded and started immediately.

As with health care, Congress can return to the issue later and rework the program to their hearts' content.  In the meantime, construction should continue apace on the original plan until they figure out what they want.

Finally, Senator McConnell needs to commit to using budget reconciliation for the repeal of Obamacare and the constitutional option to confirm the president's nomination to replace Justice Antonin Scalia.  The president-elect already committed to both repeal of Obamacare and nominating an originalist jurist like Don Willett of Texas.  The real stumbling block on both issues is McConnell and his courage.

While the GOP won control of all branches of the federal government, Republican leaders in D.C. remain the same.  Those who believe in limited government, federalism, and equality before the law did not win control, and the election results do not mean that our philosophy is ascendant.  Exit polls show that a majority of voters cast their ballots against Hillary Clinton, not for smaller, limited government or federalism.  Given recent history, there is little justification to believe that Republican leaders in D.C. will fulfill their promises without constituents applying pressure to hold them accountable.

Therefore, the onus falls to the activists who are most passionate about repealing Obamacare, establishing border security, and confirming an originalist to the Supreme Court to compel the career politicians in Congress to fulfill their pre-election promises.

To take full advantage of this opportunity, we also need a maximum effort to oppose destructive policies and advance positive reforms.  Planned Parenthood needs to be fully defunded.  If necessary, play every one of the Center for Medical Progress videos in the well of the U.S. Senate on 40-foot screens, with senators being physically forced to watch the videos so they are obliged to face the reality of what Planned Parenthood does.  Whatever it takes, not another taxpayer dime can be given to Planned Parenthood.

Other issues are more complicated, but they are more critical long-term.  Entitlement obligations are out of control.  Current liabilities – unfunded liabilities – exceeded $90 trillion in early 2015.  The situation has not improved since and will quickly grow to insurmountable proportions.  There are no good solutions most citizens will find acceptable.  Congress needs to make tough decisions, show leadership, and use political capital to stave off disaster.  Delay is no longer an option.  We are approaching insolvency, a point where the U.S. government will be forced to renege on obligations.

As bad as the unfunded liability crisis is, the most important reform – and the most difficult for D.C. to confront – is federalism.  The design of our system is sound, but many decades of centralizing power in the federal government wore away the checks and unbalanced the system.  States are practically hostages of the federal government, with the gun of "federal funds" put to their head regularly to force compliance and make them cede more authority.  Within the federal government, Congress shirked most of their legislative responsibility – and therefore their accountability – to the massive executive bureaucracies.  The president passes out edicts like a Roman emperor, declaring which laws will be enforced, ignored, or treated as if they were rewritten on a whim.  The Supreme Court is compromised, too scared to check an overreaching executive.  Instead, the justices succumbed to threats or outside pressure to prejudice the most important decision in the last decade.

These are not minor or anecdotal incidents; they tear at the very core of our all our law, the Constitution.

Balance needs to be restored between the states and the federal government, and among the federal branches.  Equalized federalism is essential to our liberty and prosperity.  Congress can take steps now to return power to the states, cut the federal strings on grants, and release constraints on state implementation of federalized programs.  They can even decentralize entire programs and give them to the states.

We cannot assume there will be anyone in D.C. championing these policies.  Considering the track record of recent Republican Congresses, only constant pressure by activists and citizens who value liberty and favor smaller government will motivate Congress to take the right actions.  Only we can make them fulfill their promises.

Brian is computer network systems engineer, commercial pilot, and writer who spent the last 12 years working overseas in hostile environments.  He makes his home in Central Texas but has traveled and lived abroad off and on since he was 11 years old.  He lived, attended school, or worked in Latin America, East and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.  You can follow him on Twitter at @TXFederalist or on Facebook at @TexasFederalist.