Can anyone help me be OPTIMISTIC about our country ?

[steve2470]

Maybe I haven't been following the Treasongate news closely enough, but lately, whether it's the DLC or the Repugs, it seems "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer". Exhibit A: CAFTA. Anyway, if you have potentially depressing input, please refrain. I can get that easy enough. I have a 9 year old son whom I'd like to think will inherit the "gifts" that all of us have grown up with. Do I have reason to be optimistic ?

[Parche]

1. optomistic

Just think 2006 and we will get the Senate and Congress back

[Shoeempress]

2. Check this thread and it's link.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4215130

[steve2470]

7. great link, made me smile a bit nt

[Cocoa]

3. Poll: Fewer Americans link Islam with violence

I was very pleasantly surprised by this story...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/26/AR2005072601290.html

Poll: Fewer People Link Islam, Violence

[steve2470]

8. also a good link, thanx nt

[henslee]

4. Yeah, maybe its a chance for other democracies to step up and carry

the mantle for a while. We're always talking about spreading democracy. Lets see how could we did it.

[skooooo]

5. History goes in cycles...certainly it's been much worse..

...in the US before - I think. Give it time and it will change, although it might get uglier before it gets prettier.

[Turbineguy]

6. Dark before the dawn.

n/t

[Justitia]

9. We will outlast the bastards. Every single Empire has bit the dust.

It won't be pretty, but Progress won't be stopped.

A bright spot on the Global scale - the IRA has formally declared that it will abandon all forms of terrorism and only pursue policy change thru peaceful means. And ya know what, I think they really do mean it. Perhaps they have seen enough religiously inspired horror and don't want to be associated w/it any longer.

Hooray for Ireland, Erin Go Braugh.

[CrispyQ]

10. Buy your son this book & maybe some copies for his friends, too.

"We the People: A Call to Take Back America" by Thom Hartmann

First, it's by Thom Hartmann, one of our best progressive voices. Second, it's done in a comic book style that makes for quick reading but covers the essentials of democracy & what our founding fathers intended by the people governing themselves. It reminds you what's really at stake & tells what is really happening.

Ask him what he thinks after he reads it.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1882109384/qid=1122595372/sr=8-4/ref=pd_bbs_sbs_4/002-2349647-1398402?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Should be required reading for all ages.

BTW, my repub Mom thinks Thom is "very reasonable. I like him." Now, there's an endorsement!

[Been Fishing]

11. Read the free chapter in this book

http://www.michaelmoore.com/books-films/dudewheresmycountry/freechapter/index.php

It should make you feel better. Found it encouraging.

[steve2470]

15. wow, still trying to knock a hole in my denial system lol nt

[lonestarnot]

12. No. n/t

[wli]

13. no, it's bad, really bad, worse than we ever imagined

This is not the time for optimism. Optimism is tantamount to denial, and encourages sloth. This is not the time for inaction.

[Sparkman]

14. 1.your richer than 95% of people on planet 2.Lynchings are rare. 3.Cavalry

mounted soldiers don't butcher native children & women anymore.
4. Insecticide "DDT" is only exported, not legal stateside.
5. Pendulum's ALWAYs swing back.

[Karenina]

16. Read Howard Zinn with your kid

then you'll both be grounded in the "reality-based" community and better able to cope with our challenges..