Despite several high-profile political scandals and the increasingly divisive and sometimes cruel tone in our civic life, there is much to be grateful for in Tar Heel politics.

Here are a few reasons to give thanks:

North Carolina is now a battleground state for presidential contests, which means candidates actually have to come to North Carolina and meet with voters, instead of just raising money here to spend down in South Carolina.

Our democratic form of government is designed to be responsive to the public.

It's not perfect, but it has withstood the test of time.

The best thing about our democracy is it can be perpetually improved.

We may sometimes disapprove of the work our elected officials are doing, but they work for us.

It's easy to forget that this is not the case elsewhere in the world.

The General Assembly passed a law that lets 16- and 17-year-olds "pre-register" to vote.

Getting both a driver's license and pre-registering to vote all at once means one less trip to the Division of Motor Vehicles and makes it easier for young people to vote when they turn 18.

Thanks to our innovative way of electing judges, we have been spared the special-interest meddling seen in supreme court races in states like West Virginia.

Having a justice system that is fair, impartial and not beholden to special interests is something we can all be thankful for.

In the past decade, Tar Heel voters have been given phenomenal access to information about candidates and elections.

The rise of the Internet means everyone has the opportunity to get informed.

With pop-up ads, spam and offers to help the king of Nigeria with a banking problem, being thankful for the Internet isn't always easy.

But as a tool for information on politics, we are truly blessed to have it.

While our political battles are hotly contested, the weapons we use here are words and ideas, not guns and bombs.

On almost every day that the General Assembly is in session, throngs of schoolchildren from all over the state come to Raleigh to see their government in action.

Not too long ago, a group of students from Washington County lobbied to pass a bill that would make the bullfrog the state's official amphibian.

It was supposed to be a non-controversial matter, but a legislative firestorm ensued. Herpetologists, conservationists and various legislative fixer types leapt into the fray. It got ugly, fast.

I am thankful for the visiting schoolchildren and the lessons we teach them -- even if it isn't the lesson that was originally planned.

I'm thankful that as the years roll on, fewer and fewer legislators sport seersucker suits. The more traditional among us might lament its disappearance, but the seersucker -- much like the horse and buggy -- should remain in the past.

Perhaps the thing that I am most thankful for is that election season, and its slew of attack ads and hyper-partisan rhetoric, is still a few months away.

If we can find a way to fix our elections so that they are not driven by these destructive forces, we would all be thankful.