But then I have these negative inclinations: I picture a rally of grand scale descending upon the Whitehouse that so terrifies them that we see an attempt to control the masses with violence ala Kent State and Tienanmen Square. Mixed with Grand Delusions: I would love to say one day, nostalgically speaking, that I attended the rally that put an end to the Bush Dictatorship but barely got outside my doorsteps to join the masses gathering in DC that extended outwards for several states.
Which rebounds with more negativity: But then I think after the '06 elections little will change and after '08 with the democrats merely throwing Hilary up for humiliation that things will continue to get worse.
I am now reminded that I should fight this negativity with positive thinking. If we all worked together to imagine and idealize the USA as the place of peace, fairness, justice, prosperity, generosity, and Liberty that we claim it should be and avoid giving any negative attention to those whose behavior we deplore we might just enact the changes necessary to make it come true rather than fuel the fires of those who's actions we can only condemn with more negative energy. Think positively, constructively, with hope for a brighter tomorrow in spite of the ills of today.
To quote Cornell West:
"I use the language of decline, decay, and despair rather than doom, gloom and no possibility because I think any talk about despair is not where you end but where you start. And then the courage and sacrifice come in. But at the level of hope, not optimism. Optimism and hope are different. Optimism tends to be biased on the notion that there is enough evidence out there that allow us to think that things are going to be better. Much more rational, deeply secular. Whereas hope looks at the evidence and says 'it doesn't look good at all.' Says 'it doesn't look good at all.' Says 'we going to make a leap of faith, we going beyond the evidence that kept to create new possibilities based on visions that become contagious to allow us to engage in heroic actions always against the odds, no guarantees whatsoever.' That's hope. That's hope."