Well, it is Election Day, and I know what that means for most of us: the end of the endless commercials by candidates and advertisements for or against various propositions. Hopefully, as Colorado is a mail-in ballot state, you’ve already received confirmation from your local elections office that your ballot you mailed in a while back has been received and counted. Or, perhaps, you are a traditionalist and want to drop off your ballot in person today. That’s fine, just remember it is too late to mail it in, you must take it to a drop box or election office.

Elections may seem interminable and the advertising irritating, but today the nation finally decides, though it will likely be a few days before we know the final results. That is not because of any shenanigans or cheating, no matter what a certain failed businessman says. No, it takes time to accurately and completely count millions of ballots. A small wait is a fair price to pay for a free and fair election, which this will be, again, regardless of what a certain convicted felon and serial adulterer says.

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That said, we should take a moment and celebrate how remarkable it is that in the history of the world, we live in the nation with the longest-surviving written constitution. There are some who argue a couple of tiny nations have older ones, but among major nations, we are the oldest surviving. Interestingly, and completely unconnected to any argument I am making here, is the longest constitution belongs to India, with nearly 450 articles, compared to our seven. OK, back to a bit of history

Recall, please, from your American civics class long ago, there was no certainty at all our nation, and our Constitution, could stand the test of time. Famously, when leaving the constitutional convention for the last time, the ancient American Benjamin Franklin was asked what kind of government the convention had given us. His insightful reply was, “a republic, if you can keep it.”

When the shots were fired at Lexington and Concord, there was no realistic reason to believe our little revolution would be successful. We were taking on the greatest military power the world had ever known, with Britain’s army and navy the wonder of the world. We took that mighty military on with shaky popular support, poor infrastructure and a nascent and tiny army. Had you been alive then, there would have been real doubt in your mind as to whether we were going to win the Revolutionary War or not.

Today, with history having told us of our victory (sketchy though it was), far too many Americans are far too comfortable in their democracy. They assume our system is inherently safe and secure, and, in many ways, it is. Yet there is a danger out there I sincerely hope this election eliminates, and that is a candidate who, for the first time in any significant way in American history, has declared either he wins or he wants people to take to the streets. Heck, just yesterday, he “joked” about people shooting members of the press, because they report on his lies and misdeeds in a way he can only try to thwart by claiming they make everything up.

And so today is truly a revolutionary day. The Founders put into our hands the ability to fundamentally change our government every two, four and six years through national elections. I dipped my own toes into that vast democratic experiment back in 2008 when I ran for U.S. Congress. This should be a day of celebration. Heck, it should be a national holiday, as I suspect there are some folks around the nation, in areas both red and blue, unable to get to the polls on Election Day because of work constraints. Voting is the single most important act a citizen can take, and we should try to ensure no logistical barriers keep people from the polls.

Until 2020, we had always had peaceful transitions with the passing of power from an outgoing administration to the newly elected one. That changed when one man decided to defy the will of the people and tried to commit what is the closest thing to a coup our nation has ever seen. Even Nixon, far brighter and more capable that Trump, knew when it was time to leave office.

With Trump, who also said a couple of days ago he should have just never left the White House, we have a deeply flawed, rather dim, and dangerous man intent on getting and holding power for a variety of personal reasons (such as, I dunno, not going to federal prison on his 34 felony convictions?), and a remarkable number of Americans are OK with that. They are OK with the tens of thousands of documented lies and the utter dishonesty of his current campaign.

I’ve always said the greatest skill the Republican Party possesses, and Trump has in massive quantities, is the ability to get people to vote against their own self interests. They’ll chirp about lowering taxes on the rich, because, you know, trickle down. And they will yelp about the border when they know Obama deported more people than Trump did, and most illegals are people who overstayed visas, and that most of the major drugs come in on big ships, and not by climbing a fence.

None of that matters, sadly, and within a few days, we’ll know if Trump fooled enough people to win another term. Recall dozens of his former staffers — people he called the best people out there — have publicly talked about how dangerous he is. A second Trump term will see people like convicted felon (whom Trump pardoned without due process) Michael Flynn as chief of staff, and Trump’s days, before he leaves at noon to watch TV, will be about retribution and revenge.

Clearly, I have a point of view, but we should all agree on the vital importance of Election Day and of participating in the process. I do believe the old axiom if you don’t vote, you don’t really have a right to complain about how things are going. So, if you are reading this on Election Day, and your ballot is over there in the pile of mail, please sort it out and fill it out and take it to a ballot drop off box or an elections office today.

And don’t worry, the political commercials will be gone very soon. But the bad news is the Black Friday ads are about to take their place.

Stay tuned.

Hal Bidlack is a retired professor of political science and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who taught more than 17 years at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.