I don’t know who said it first, but I heard it from Jess Craven in this 2.5 minute video thanking us, the grassroots activists and all the voters who chose democracy over oligarchy: “The many are more powerful than the money.” Tears and tingles have been rising all day as I celebrate with friends around the country, listen to my heroes who have been on the front lines as their joy and gratitude overflows, and release wave after wave of tension and anxiety from my body.

Robert Hubbell sums up the many small victories that amount to a huge win for regular Americans in this eight minute read or listen. Former DOJ attorney Joyce Vance celebrates in this post named after the book she released last spring, Giving Up Is Unforgivable. We won because we didn’t give up!

Now, the hard work begins, as everyone is saying. But first, we get to breathe, and celebrate, and rest on Cloud Nine for a little while… Then come January, those moderates, those firebrands we elected, we hold their feet to the fire and make them enact meaningful legislation that starts improving lives immediately. Next week is not too soon to start letting your elected representatives know what you expect from them when they’re sworn in.

Starting on Day 1, here are some top priorities: *) Release unredacted Epstein Files! Like housecleaning, this might necessitate accomplishing a few things before you can get to the one thing, like tidying up clutter before you can dust. Those things might be a) Impeach AG Todd Blanche, and b) enlarge the Supreme Court by a significant number (and then strike down rulings like Citizens United and Dobbs and a few others).

I’m not ranking priorities because there are just too many that need to happen all at once. We’re looking at a triage scenario to save the casualties in this train wreck of a government. *) Break the Big Awful Bill so that SNAP, Medicaid, and Medicare are all resurrected to their full health and even bolstered: Healthcare for All, whatever forms that takes. *) Immediately reunite all detained and deported immigrants who have been separated from their children, and rescue as many as possible from prisons overseas; then formulate a realistic and compassionate Immigration policy and defund ICE. *) Restore the Department of Defense: Impeach Hegseth and fire his toadies, stop the war with Iran, stop murdering boatfuls of people in the Caribbean, restore military honor to those officers besmirched by this regime. *) Fire RFK: reclaim federal public health agencies including CDC and HHS, and start nurturing these sickened, broken organizations back to full strength; restore funding for cancer research and other crucial studies. *) Stop BIG OIL: Save the Arctic! Save the PLANET! *) Save the children, Stop the guns! *) Save Science! Save public education! Save Reality! Save the Gulf of Mexico! Save the Kennedy Center!

You have probably thought of three or four urgent priorities of your own as you’ve read this tragically incomplete list of mine. I could go on but you get the picture. And not one of us has to be responsible for all of these. My suggestion is that you pick one or two pet priorities for the next six months, and be clear and constant in your communication with your representatives about its importance; spice up your daily calls or missives with an extra one now and then. Make democracy fun again!

Like any abuser, and I’ve known more than my fair share, the Abuser in Chief now pays lip service to reform, claiming he will work with Democrats because he doesn’t want to veto everything. I’ll believe it only when I see it and meanwhile I’ll be anticipating many more about faces, temper tantrums, scapegoats and vitriol. I wouldn’t even be surprised to see him take his Qatari jet and flee the country for Vanuatu, Morocco, the UAE, or some other country that has no extradition treaty with the US.