When we vote, we do more than choose a President or a mayor, a city council or a school board. When we vote, we push aside those things that divide us and coalesce behind the great issues that unite us. When we vote, we decide the causes and priorities we shall advance as a community and as a society. And, even some of those who'd voted many times before came away wondering why all the fuss, why this election had to be decided by lawyers and judges behind closed doors - and not in the sweet open air of our free society. But, in our democracy, my friends, voting does not guarantee results.
Democracy is imperfect.
We need to be mindful of that. We need to be mindful of the errors committed in our exercise of democracy - and we need to remember the good things, too. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us that democracy is a work in progress, a great experiment, a process under refinement and revision. Sometimes we stumble, and sometimes others stumble, and sometimes we all fall short of our expectations. The greatest risk to our democracy, however, is not our mistakes or mischievousness.