Gird your loins, weary warriors.

This is it. The final battle for the soul of America.

Okay. It isn’t. The soul of America can still be saved, and often times, we find our greatest strength in testing.

We are not confined to party or chained to a system, although it feels that the bonds of familiarity with what has always been, for most of us, are firmly holding us in place.

If this election cycle has shown us anything – for those of us still paying attention – it is that we need to be more actively involved in our own governance. We need to hold our elected officials responsible, and we need to expect more, or they will take advantage.

An uninformed, uninvolved electorate got us where we are.

Reality TV, which is no reality at all, and popular media have shaped the culture and the culture is dying.

We have angry revolutionaries, who are so wrapped up in their entitlement mindset that they don’t realize that it is our history that allows them to revolt without fear of being targeted and drug from their homes in the middle of the night, with no trial, no hope of representation.

We are beset with angry, would-be patriots, who chant slogans about injustice and our freedoms, but would deny others their freedom to vote their conscience.

And we are plagued with far too many who only become aware that we even have a government when it’s time to collect a check or vote.

I had a family member come for a visit and see the Pat McCrory (North Carolina’s amazing governor) sign in my front yard. As I remarked, “We’ve got to vote for Pat McCrory,” this family member piped up, “She’s running for president, too?”

It is this kind of dulled sense of civic awareness that is the poison in the well of our society.

Alexis de Tocqueville remarked:

“The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.”

I want to believe that we’re still the America that Tocqueville marveled over. I need to believe that somewhere, hidden under the grime of Trumpism and the festering mountain of Clinton corruption, the heart of American exceptionalism still beats.

Whatever happens today, in four years, we get another chance to get it right, no matter what some purveyors of doom are proclaiming.

Tomorrow, we put our campaign signs away. Some will grumble. Some will rejoice.

And we will still be America.

Let us all devote ourselves to being more aware, more involved, and dedicated to keeping the health and well-being of this nation as a forefront issue.

That means grabbing those friends or family members who may not be as aware as they should be and giving them the occasional lesson in Civics.

That means writing or calling your elected representatives when you see things going sideways.

Whatever you do, commit to doing something to make tomorrow better than today.

We are our government, and we get the government we deserve.

Pray for our nation, and pray for each other.