Democracy, it has been said, is something a nation does rather than something it has. If that's true, Americans did a remarkable job of democracy this year. More than 130 million Americans voted, more than have ever done so in our nation's history. More Americans made contributions to campaigns than have ever done so before -- over 3 million of them to the Obama campaign alone. The numbers of volunteers for the many campaigns are hard to count. But there's no doubt that the candidates -- Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee, and even vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin -- inspired thousands to get involved.