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I wanna take a second to express some real gratitude. We live in the country that invented balanced popular government. In 1787 a bunch of lawyers and slaveholders in wigs took a HUGE leap foreward in the progress toward political democracy. Tho they were far from perfect, they laid the foundation for today's reality in which ordinary people like you and me stand a decent chance of stopping the thugs, 'taters, and Bushes of the world who want to use their power to advance personal power and undermine public liberty.
They didn't give us a system where justice always prevails--no government has ever achieved that. But they did start the ball rolling toward a system where good people can work together and promote the common good against the connivances of a few greedheads who might happen to get themselves into power. We are so lucky, so fortunate, and so blessed by this legacy.
217 years ago, Ben Franklin told his friends "you have a Republic, if you can keep it." So far, we've kept it. Let's see if we can't keep it going for a few more years after this one.
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