Optimism and the Democratic Party
When Democrats have succeeded in the last 80 years, optimism has been integral to our success. Optimism was FDR's calling card, and we heard echos of optimism in the Camelot of JFK, and in Obama's "Hope and Change" in 2008/9. The GOP has also succeeded by the same strategy with Reagan ("Shining City on the Hill"
being the key example.
Today, most of the political press centers on the daily outrages of Trump. The Democratic party gets much less press and some of that is counterproductive as highlighted by continuing coverage of squabbling among some Democrats about the future of the party.
What the Democratic Party needs now is to return to it's most successful strategy emphasizing the bright future of America, the power of collective action through the government to accomplish great things (like curing cancer), the promotion of both freedom AND equal rights for all. "America is great and we will make it better yet for everyone..." I think this requires remembering to inject optimism into political discourse by Democrats at the grass roots on upward to Congressional and Senate Democrats. And to inject optimism, one must feel optimistic that the dark days of Trump and the GOP will pass and that great things are still possible. Biden's Moonshot for Cancer is the best example I think of in the recent past of something that was both realistic and achievable in the not to distant future that almost all Americans (perhaps besides some folks like Trump who want to cut the NIH budget) would agree is worth achieving.
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