Tuesday was a big day for democracy! But only if we follow through on its promise.

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This week, we celebrate the immediate results of the November 4 elections— which delivered key victories for candidates running against Trumpism and offering concrete policies to benefit their constituents. Andrea Pitzer looks at how, win or lose, elections do matter. But they're only one tool. Pointing out how even winning candidates can abandon the platforms they ran on, or give into donor pressure once in office, she lays out how the ultimate power remains with the people. There are many other ways that voters and non-voters alike can impact their communities.

Andrea considers the degree to which dedicated voters can sometimes demonize non-voters or blame them for failures at the ballot box. But nonvoters may have given up hope in our system altogether. And in any case, if getting out the vote is the goal, persuasion is more likely to work. She considers the ruptured promise of our republic, and the ways in which she still believes elections can lay the foundation to repair it. But only if we understand that Tuesday may have been a wave, but we ourselves are the water.