There is a good thing about today’s inauguration. Despite having the lowest approval rating of an incoming president in a long time, it appears that we will have a peaceful transfer of power. That is what democracy is designed to do.

Now we  will also need the other parts of democracy to work, namely the institutions that have been put in place to help safeguard from abuses of power by the executive branch of government. This will be a difficult challenge with the current distribution of power across the three branches of government. It is encouraging to see at least some members of Congress start to put the importance of democracy above their party’s / their own political agenda.

There are additional institutions also which come into play in protecting democracy. The most important of those are freedom of speech and the right to assembly. This allows the direct expression by people of their dissatisfaction with leadership. Here too it is great to see these exercised during the inauguration.