So I frequently feel down about the state of our country and the world. :^( Where are

[GreenPartyVoter]

things going well? Where are people being treated well, where is progress of all kinds being made?

Please, cheer me up by reminding me that the USA isn't the be-all end-all of the world? :)

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Guess nobody can think of anything? :^(

[tavalon]

2. Watch Walking With Cavemen

Or read, The Impossible Will Take a Little While, by Paul Loeb. The show helps with the long perspective and the book does too, and is uplifting as well.

Because we are on the edge of cataclysmic change, things are going to feel bad all over the world now for the humans who just happen to be alive right now. But things change. How they change, we don't get to see, because we don't live in geologic time.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Thanks. I will definitely look for those! *hugs*

[depakid]

4. "Where are things going well? "

In Australia we are building schools & improving education scores, expanding access to health care, constructing a national -and government owned broadband network that will provide less expensive internet access all across the nation.

Unemployment is at 5% and falling, issues such as death with dignity, gay marriage and Murray river irrigation adjustments are on the table.

Best of all- Greens hold the balance of power in the Senate and will for at least the next 6 years, and very likely much longer.

[tavalon]

7. But you're having environmental shifts just like the rest of the world

I am thrilled that politically it's looking good. I have a friend who was from Australia and emigrated here long ago. It was a pretty conservative government he left behind. I hope he keeps up enough to know it's gotten better.

[depakid]

12. We've had some pretty impressive rain events that have recharged the rivers and resevoirs

throughout the country, with only the Southwest being in a dry.

Of course, it's not enough yet- but after a 10 year drought (which tend to be cyclical) and massive bush fires last year, most of the country including the outback, has sprung back to life in amazing ways.

I too hope your friend's been paying attention- as the can do Aussie spirit (and the sense of fair dinkum and a fair go for all is still alive- and mostly well in this sunburnt land).

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. That is good news. Mostly what I hear about Australia is weather-related, so it's

nice to hear about other issues. :) (And I envy your system that allows minor parties to become players on the political stage.)

[depakid]

13. Yep- we like preferential voting and proportional representation

to the extent that we have it.

However, the Greens are no longer a minor party.

See, e.g.

The early signs since the election in August suggest Australia could be restructuring from a two-party political system to a three-party one. The big structural shift in the past election was that Labor handed its bloc of progressive voters to the Greens.

Without the half million extra votes the Greens took on August 21, Labor found itself unable to govern in its own right.

Today's poll will trouble Labor because it shows that this trend did not stop on election day. If it persists, it will destroy Labor permanently as a party able to govern in its own right and force it into permanent dependency - or perhaps a coalition - with the Greens.

In today's Herald/Nielsen poll Labor's primary vote is down by a considerable 4 percentage points, from 38 to 34 per cent. In a poll with a margin of error of 2.6 per cent, this is probably a real movement and not just noise.

It means Labor has lost the votes of about half a million people in the two months since election day. And of those, half appear to have gone to the Greens camp.

In other words, in the past two months the Greens have taken half as many votes from Labor as they took in the preceding three years.

More: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/labor-fails-to-stop-slide-to-greens-20101024-16z9e.html

Now, if the US went to an IRV system like we have, then you'd also find that parties on both sides of the political spectrum would be far more responsive to their constituencies. Something positive to work for.

[GreenPartyVoter]

18. That's really exciting. :^)

[leftstreet]

5. French people are gathering with neighbors & getting some exercise

French truck drivers block the access of a regional transportation center on October 21, 2010 in Lesquin, northern France, to protest against the pension reform law raising the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62. Strikes threatening to paralyse France's economy looked set to rumble on into after a million people took to the street on October 19, 2010, for their right to retire at 60 and fuel shortages began to bite.



PARIS - OCTOBER 26: French university students and striking workers attend a demonstration over pension reforms near the French Senate October 26, 2010 in Paris, France. Strikes and protests continue in France over the government's plans to increase the retirement age from 60 to 62, resulting in major disruption to France's economy, services and transportation, including the closure of many schools

[defendandprotect]

8. Article today I meant to post on emphasis on the losses every day.....

French are right -- and I'd like to see the decision overturned and

Sarkozy "retired."

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. LOL I like the way you put that. We need some of that kind of exercise around here on

a large scale.

[ibegurpard]

17. I am cheering for them!

What bums me out about this is that it is even needing to happen at all somewhere like France.

[defendandprotect]

6. Thought a GREEN might have something optimistic to tell us ... ????

Not optimistic --

A Constitutional amendment needed to reverse Supreme's corporate decision?

Obama administration asking for help from people they spent a long time frustrating

and disappointing and disrespecting?

Global Warming in a runaway situation with still no sign of alternative/renewal

energy coming in -- and things worsening every day -- !!

On and on ....

Yikes!

:nuke:

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. I'm not feeling particularly optimistic these days. I think it's mostly that

the tea-bagger is waaay too close to taking the governorship here. :( That just seems to be the proverbial straw for me on top of all the other depressing stuff.

[defendandprotect]

14. Maine ... !!! Wow, that's really depressing ... now I feel worse ...!!

They all seem to be zombie like robots, geared up for violence --

Did you get a better one for governor? Something above Palin or Whitman?

[GreenPartyVoter]

19. Let me put it this way: He had Haley Barbour come stump for him. This wouldn't

be such an issue but the liberal vote seems to be splitting between two candidates. Once again plurality voting will fail us. :(

[ScreamingMeemie]

15. Here in the "scary and backwards" South, Houston (4th largest city) has

an openly lesbian mayor. That's progress. And we're happy with her too! :)

[GreenPartyVoter]

20. That's really awesome. :^D

[ibegurpard]

16. unfortunately I really don't think I can comfort you

Because I see it happening everywhere...places we thought were more progressive seem to be under attack as well.
I think the only solution is just go local...influence your own sphere as much as possible.

[GreenPartyVoter]

21. Yeah. :^( It does seem that way, doesn't it?