I am beginning to look at things with more optimism these days.

[CoffeeAnnan]

My perspective comes from the following reasoning:

1.Nearly 50% of us have not bought into the mythologies created by the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld Axis of Lies.In their hearts they know 9/11 was a manufactured event ( look at the percentage of New Yorkers who believe that way) on a par with the Reichstag Fire or the Gulf of Tonkin incident.

2.They have not bought into the aura of omniscience so assiduously created by the media for this Triad of Prevaricators.

3. They are revolted by the War on Iraq, the Abu Ghraib tortures and the constant din of the media for an endless series of wars against enemies we have set out to create.

4.They do not buy into the image of Bush as a transformed born again Christaian whose past is littered with tales of drug addiction, alcoholism, draft evasion and worse, desertion.

5.They know he has no grasp of any economic or military issues involved in any setting.He is simply an empty suit with nothing in the territory that occupies the area between his ears.

As these things become apparent to more and more people, and it is certain they will, he will attempt ever more brazen tactics to sustain his false image.That in the end will bring about his undoing.Hubris is an addictive drug.Cocaine users can tell you that.

[bullimiami]

1. most of us have not bought in to the sucker mentality

for quite a long time. we tried to elect gore, keep the senate, take back the house, and send bush back to texas. all for naught.

what disturbs me is the refusal to fight for justice.

[indigobusiness]

2. Snap out of it...

and get back into this here depression, with the rest of us.

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. This would be funny if it weren't so sad.

But I have a new theory about depressed people. It gets worse when people feel they have no control over their lives.

[indigobusiness]

9. Real depression is preferable

to delusions of grandeur.

[d_b]

3. Agreed

The fact that kerry came that close surprised the hell out of me givin' what he was up against. I'm guessing that Bush's re-election will destroy the Republican party for at least 20 years..
at least I hope.

[knowbody0]

4. optimistic as well, yet full of dispair over the carnage in iraq

here, the economy, the homeless, the jobless, the poor, the environment, the patriot act, the stolen election-everything wrong here is our responsibility. apathy led us to this point, i agree george is so far off his nut and bound to topple, but no matter how "they" did it, it is obvious our entire infrastructure needs a douching. we must remain vigilant and focused on truth and justice. we will prevail only if we stay united in ideals

[CoffeeAnnan]

6. I will go with the darkest before dawn metaphor.

[MatrixEscape]

7. That is a good perspective ...

but then, I look at the sweeping changes in the Patriot Acts and that blows away my optimism quickly. I start feeling naked and vulnerable at that point, as a citizen.

I am losing my sense of being embraced by the safe, warm arms of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

It is bad enough that the wording, in effect, decimates our once assumed inalienable rights, but then you stop to consider who is getting the draconian and tyrannical power it conveys. You find it very easy to imagine how they would use them.

[CoffeeAnnan]

10. The person who oddly reinforces my optimism is the Mother of all

conservative evil, Jeanne Kirkpatrick.She says, in one of her notorious essays, justifying the support for the Contra drug runners and murderers, that the states in Latin America run by the likes of Pinochet are authoritarian.They do not interfere with the daily routine of lives of people.The regimes we need to be concerned about are the Totalitarian ones, that make ordinary living impossible.

If we continue to keep autonomy possible in our daily lives, I believe the passage of time and the increasingly aware population will see that the Republicans have created a society that is against everything we stand for.

[m berst]

8. get back on the program, would ya?

You have two choices here - deep, dark, despair; or giddy, naive optimism. Please pick one and stop thinking about things so much.

</sarcasm>

Good post. Many are struggling to see the forest for the trees.

[coloradodem2005]

11. How so?

Is any good going to come out of this? I never was apathetic. I fought this year. I voted in 2000.

[m berst]

15. hi

What do you mean?

[coloradodem2005]

16. What is the good in this situation?

That is what I mean.

[m berst]

17. which situation?

I just wasn't sure what you were referring to.

[coloradodem2005]

18. Bush and Republicans taking over this country.

n/t

[m berst]

22. well, none

I can't see any good in Bush taking over the country. But how does that apply to my post? Maybe I am just missing something.

[NurseLefty]

12. Wish I could look on the bright side, but...

1. We will have have 4 more years of * and all his operatives around him, continuing his agenda, continuing to act out in various ways with impunity.
2. Congress has a repuke majority, resulting in furthering *'s agenda by rubber-stamping his legislation. Tom Delay will remain the dominant creep that he is, without impunity. And, if * is found to have committed impeachable acts (1st or 2nd term), will Congress pursue prosecuting them? Hell, no!
3. The Supreme Court is likely to have at least 2 new appointments by *. Congress will shoo them through, we'll have 2 more Scalias, and women's rights and civil rights will be flushed down the toilet for decades to come.
4. * will continue to receive a chilly, polite at best, reception from other nations. Given the repuke's anti-UN philosophy, US relations w/ the world will yield little gains for everyone.
5. Iraq will not be the shining beacon of democracy the morans purported it will be. Rather, civil war will break out and massive life (including US troops) will be lost.
6. The US economy will crumble. The chickens will come home to roost, so-to-speak. On a large scale, the nation's debt will weaken the economy, and on a local scale, consumer debt and cutthroat banking practices will cause personal financial collapse of a large chunk of US society.
7. Public health will continue to be starved of funding, and occurrences such as the flu shot shortage will be commonplace. And who knows what will happen if a SARS-like disease hits us...
8. Seniors will continue to have to decide between their drugs or food. *'s Medicare "reform" will prove to be a fraudulent mess.
9. More Americans will lose their health insurance, and more will die as a result. (Currently, 18,000 people a year die in the US due to lack of treatment.)
10. ANWR will be drilled.
11. A plethora of anti-environmental acts will be carried out..
12. Fewer low-income students will be able to go to college.

I could go on, but you get my point. The idea of letting * make a complete mess to teach Americans a lesson has tremendous consequence. I don't think we can afford it.

[Gloria]

13. We're in the lull before the storm...you may be setting yourself

up for a real shock!

Molly Ivins' new column about how things are going to get even worse should be checked out for the reality check if offers....

[cassiepriam]

14. Depressed people more in touch with reality.....

according to classic research.

[__Inanna__]

19. wow, is that true?

any links? If that's the case, I am REALLY in touch with reality.

I don't dispute what you say at all, but I'd be interested in doing further reading.

[MichiganVote]

20. No, that is not true.

[cassiepriam]

21. can you cite your sources? have you seen newer research?

[MichiganVote]

23. I haven't seen yours yet. But I work with depressed individuals

daily. No better research than that and there is no proof that depressed or "happy" individuals have any better grasp of "reality" because of a state of mind.

Find the proof, I'll argue it. It can be easy to argue depression as a cause for ne or another thing when it is really something else.

[cassiepriam]

24. research from some years back

when I was in grad school. Cannot find citation.
Anecdotal data to the contrary, yes can
be argued the other way. But interesting research.
i.e. people in denial can be happy campers...
look at all the buhies.......
any way complex topic.

[MichiganVote]

25. Denial is a necessary coping mechanism

But like eating chocolate--depends on how heavily its relied upon as a source of survival. Too much denial--can't see the problems to solve them, too little denial may lead to paranoia.

Look, if the recounts amount to something, great. If not, not so great but this is not the first or last election that has gone bad for Dem's and yet the country somehow manages to right itself. We'll see what happens.

[indigobusiness]

30. Point taken. But, it can also be a postponing mechanism

of the inevitable. Which can grow even more dire in the meantime.

[xerox]

26. its good

to be positive

[Lexingtonian]

27. It's easier than that

People looked at the scene and realized that Bush really intended to do Nothing of significance during a second term (except put his buddies into more structural control of the federal government), plus that he has ~50% of voters unpersuadably against him.

They looked at Kerry, and Kerry in effect had to admit that the reality of the situation is bleak enough that he couldn't promise very much improvement.

So the election came down to whether the country wanted the political establishment of the country to change fundamentally. I believe the election told us, and swing voters said outright: the Democratic side is the better one, but the Right is not yet sufficiently defeated. Democrats have now convinced the country about economics and ethnicity, but they haven't yet stepped up to provide guidance on the psychological/religious problems of the times.

The misere of the moment is this: that progressives have not yet completely formulated an answer to the society's needs, and the reactionaries' answer is known to be bad and unsustainable. But one or the other has to be implemented, and it's the latter, but no one wants to see it through to its conclusion. We are at an impasse.

The bar simply is set higher for Democrats. Democrats are supposed to supply excellence, Republicans mediocrity, that's the true political system of this country.

[pacalo]

28. You're right on, CoffeeAnnan.

As for number 5, he has no grasp of certain issues, either; for instance, what sovereignty means to U.S. Indian tribes. When asked by a journalist at the UNITY conference months back, he explained it thusly: "Sovereignty is ,well,...sovereignty, & if you are sovereign, then you have sovereignty."

Kerry spoke the day before at the conference, & he was impressive.

Regardless of how Bushitler managed to keep his job, this election was a TRAGEDY.

[Wapsie B]

29. Your point #1

is one thing that will prevent us from being returned to the glorious 50's, the decade seemingly so in favor with the pod people. There are too many of us that know what's really going on here.

Even though it may look ominous on the surface, the "governmental majority" of the repugs is hanging by a thread. And that's if you feel this election was 100% legitimate.