This Thanksgiving week-end, once again, I'm thankful to be an American. I'm thankful for a democracy that really works. I'm thankful for an American public that believes in our system. Despite a long period of indecision about the Presidential election, there have been no troops in the streets, no riots, no generals contemplating coups.

Oh yes, we hear that some Europeans are laughing at us. We hear that Colonel Khadafy wants to show us how a real democracy works (one where your only choice at the polls is the candidate chosen by the Colonel himself). We hear that countless others want to help us with election observers.

Let them chuckle. There are few countries that merely go on about their business while the leadership of their nations remains undecided. There are all too few where citizens freely select their leaders and the military are merely voters like all the rest of us.

We, of course, have a President. There is no vacuum for some swashbuckling colonel to jump into. There is no need to call out the troops to assure the stability of our society nor the election of a favored candidate. Secure in our 200-year history of electing presidents, we Americans have watched our election uncertainty play out with fascination and curiosity, but certainly not with alarm.

Like most Americans, I've been glued to the Florida recount. What an incredible story of democracy at work. Voting machines that couldn't handle nuances of punch cards. Citizens volunteering innumerable hours to recount ballots by hand. Lawsuits that have shown us the independence of our judicial system. People taking their responsibilities as citizens of the United States very seriously. I tell you, it makes me proud.

This election has also demonstrated some clear flaws in our system and raised questions that need public debate. Is the electoral college, for example, still a valid way of electing presidents? It was part of a compromise at the Constitutional Convention that allowed all white men to vote, not just propertied white men. The electors were supposed to provide a way to keep the masses from making a grievous mistake.

We Americans change our constitution very judiciously. Its principles have served us well. Nonetheless, the solution crafted 200 years ago for a minority of our citizens needs to be reevaluated in light of a vastly different and better educated electorate of the twenty-first century.

We also need to take a hard look at our voting practices. Across the United States, we vote with antiquated equipment. It's easy to criticize local governments for not investing in new, computer-age, machines. But, for county commissioners and city council members, there are countless priorities more important than upgrading a rarely used system. Nonetheless, this election, too close to call swiftly in many states, has demonstrated the critical importance of equipment that accurately records and counts votes. Americans will quickly lose trust in a system that seems to disenfranchise many of us.

While we're at it, let's ask some hard questions of the media. It was more than a circus when Florida was first called for Gore, then for Bush, then put in the undecided column. It was very damaging to both candidates and a public that expects care, accuracy and common sense from its reporters. Particularly on such an important occasion.

Rather than rush to be the first network to call the election for one candidate or another, based on questionable exit polls and voting machines of dubious accuracy, why not let the voting go forward until a clear decision of the voters has been rendered. It really isn't necessary for an election, whether close or a landslide, to be called by the media with only a tiny fraction of the votes counted.

In this election, despite its obvious problems, we have many more pluses than minuses. Beyond watching a remarkable civics lesson unfold, it has to be pretty clear to everyone that her or his vote does indeed count. In state after state, race after race, each vote made a difference. That, by itself, has made this amazing spectacle worthwhile.