I've led a fortunate life, much to be thankful for. I've been to 80 countries. Wherever I went I was thankful I lived in the U.S. where evils like autocracies & theocracies were impossible. Since 2017, we've discovered that's not so. Today's SCOTUS decision underscores that.

If there is anything to be thankful for in it, it is the hope it will serve as a wake-up call to those who do not realize the threats that lie ahead. Recent elections have reminded us how important it is to wrest democracy out of the hands of the donor class that's seized it.

Our recent experiences have also made it painfully clear that our system contains deep imperfections that assure that a minority will have disproportionate power in our Senate, our electoral college and, thanks to the Senate, our courts.

Either we, the majority that elected our next president, will continue our activism & engagement & work to fix what's broken in that system or we will drift further toward the kind of dysfunctionality that has led to so much suffering around the planet.

Our work, in short, has just begun. Removing Trump was an essential step toward preserving our democracy. But it was just one of several such steps. Winning back the Senate, rebalancing the courts, changing our campaign finance and election laws, are all essential.

Take a breather. Count your blessings. Be thankful Trump will soon be gone and be thankful for each and every American who voted to remove him. Eat up. But then begin again, recognize this is a marathon not a sprint. And remember the stakes.

The greatest danger we face from within our own ranks is complacency, celebrating victory and drifting to the deceptively comfortable middle ground of compromise. Compromise with extremists and those who would destroy our system only moves us closer to their goals.

No, let us hope that we can on future Thanksgivings be grateful for the resolute, clear-eyed US majority that would not give up on our aspirations for our country and our system and who would not give in to the lure of false pragmatism, the kind that invites long-term disaster.