Nations and forms of government are not perpetual. America suffers a genuine threat from President-Elect Donald Trump.

It might have been a moment of grace right before the holiday season of a disgraceful year.

Each election season Massachusetts political players earn their way into the winners and losers column. Charlie Baker, Curt Schilling, the Boston Globe, Meghna Chakrabarti - which list did your favorite make?

"A republic, if you can keep it."

Benjamin Franklin's response in 1787 to a question on whether we had a monarchy or a republic reminds us still of our civic obligations. The people, Franklin warned us, must be active citizens, not merely consenting to be governed but ongoing participants in the affairs of the nation.

By expressing our rights as citizens with our voices, being of service and learning through volunteering, and pledging to vote, we can move forward in the wake of this election.

William Crotty, author of  Winning the Presidency 2016 (Routledge, 2017), explains what to expect from a Clinton and Trump Presidency.

Will Massachusetts be a democracy or a secret plutocracy? That question doesn't have a ballot number but it is the most important question you'll vote on this year.

The following is a guest post by Daniel T. Kirsch, and independent scholar who earned a Ph.D. in political science from UMass, Amherst. He is currently writing a book about the politics of student loans. The author can be contacted at danieltkirsch@gmail.com

Former Massachusetts Governor and current Libertarian nominee for Vice President William F. Weld recently made the assertion that he would be campaigning primarily to defeat Donald Trump. According to Michael Levenson and Frank Phillips’ October 4 story in the Boston Globe, the Weld family fortune scion and Bush family business associate has “denounced Trump as a ‘huckster’ with a ‘screw loose’ and has said his plan to deport 11 million illegal immigrants ‘would remind me of Anne Frank hiding in the attic.’” However, a look back at Weld's own political positions and rhetoric reveals some interesting parallels between the rhetoric of Trump and Weld.

Shouldn't voters in a democracy have at a minimum the right to know who is spending millions to influence their votes? Not according the the pro-charters campaign.

Had either the Boston Globe or the governor shown a bit more curiosity about the over $14 million that has already poured into the state on behalf of the yes on 2 campaign, we might know more about who is really behind all those TV ads.