A rosy scenario/prediction, others are welcome

[quinnox]

Ok, for a change of pace from all the gloom and doom predictions here is an optimistic one.

1. John Kerry is elected president of the United States in Nov.

2. Surprisingly, the Democrats retake the Senate as well

3. After a initial rocky start, the Kerry administration has great success in turning around the economic policies and downturn, and another Clinton-like boom happens but this time it lasts for a much longer period

4. By 2006, Iraq has been stabilized and U.S. troops have all but left the country except for a small force comparable to other bases around the world

5. Kerry has a summitt with the new Israeli prime minister (Sharon had to resign due to scandal) and the Palestinian leader, and an agreement is hammered out that leads to peace and a two-state solution

6. Ultimatly, an unprecedented era of peace and prosperity is ushered in for the entire world

Any predictions in the positive light are welcomed, even if they are not quite as rosy, lol

[Racenut20]

1. Pass me that pipe.

[OneBlueSky]

2. dream on, friend . . . n/t

.

[brokensymmetry]

3. Sure, why not?

The stock market starts moving up a lot due to the improved economy. This relieves the pressure on corporate pension plans.

An improved economy results in a better job environment for Americans, and President Kerry is able to get living wage legislation passed.

Here's hoping your optimistic view is correct!

[NJCher]

4. Kerry ushers in an environmental framework

Gearing up America for becoming free from foreign oil. It creates a boom akin to the dot.com revolution in the Clinton years.

Americans tire of fear, gloom and doom and opt for a "can do" approach.

Americans realize the horrors their government has visited on Iraq and they withdraw their forces but continue financial support to rebuild what they have torn down.

With the success of Air America and the popularity of international news sources on the Web, more new news outlets present news from the liberal point of view.


Cher

[JCMach1]

5. If wishes were fishes

[lil-petunia]

6. four more years = more war fears

The little big guy (with his very own, personalized hotline to god) who currently sits in the White House is a nightmare. Most of my life i have recalled that no one party has monopolized both the house and the senate, while having a president from the same party. the normal give and take, the behind the scenes compromise simply doesn't exist here.

If your rosy scenario is true, at least let us hope that the pres-be-gone, and at least one chamber becomes rational again.

I really like #5.

Anyone here ever listen to Tom DeLay's speech to the Knesset about a year ago? Even the most insane anti-palestinian, pro-settlement bigots thought that DeLay was even more fervant than they. In a nutshell, he said, God told me that we must be with you, and that you should take all steps to eradicate the problem as you see fit. The US is behind you completely.

What I predict is that
1) the well-known lethargy of America will end - the secular, non ultra-christian silent majority, will start to feel as though our rights have been punished enough - in the name of self-righteousness and religiosity of the corrupt right.

2) An AG who lost his re-election campaign to a corpse will resign because of incompetency and fraud. Or maybe his computer has too much child porn on it.

3) DeLay is indicted and has to resign.

4) Patriot Act will not be continued.

5) Dick Cheney becomes the post child for corporate corruption and political scheming.

[Wright Patman]

8. Democrats controlled it all

under LBJ and the same sort of disaster ensued in terms of unnecessary war and slaughter of young Americans.

I think the key event in our history was Nov. 22, 1963. After that bloody coup by the MIC, no civilian authority has dared to derail the perpetual war/preparation for war budgeting without which we would be a much more prosperous society much like some of the social democracies of Scandinavia.

[lil-petunia]

10. democrats controlled it all

damn, you are right. I forgot all about that.

One party control bad.
Two party bad when one of them is brain dead and the other seems reactive and moribound, not alive and kicking.
Three party would be good, if there was some real creativity and clear thinking about policy, not politics. The competition would move all of them closer to reality.

[NuttyFluffers]

7. can it rain gum drops and moon pies too!?

love your optimism, but what we need now is hope. hope believes things can get better, but is closely attached to reality, having a healthy dose of skepticism while working towards a goal. optimism just believes it'll all work out in the end in this ideal way. it's not a very realistic view of the world.

i dig rosy tinted glasses as much as the next person, but i don't want to mistake it for the reality before the lenses.

[rock]

9. I'm a minimalist

Just have bushsucks* defeated and I'll consider it a dream come true. (P.S. by defeated I mean uninstalled. After all he was defeated in 2000 too).

[Deja Q]

11. Alice tried to believe in three impossible things before breakfast

Unfortunately, I'm not Alice and I refuse to undertake the surgery, thanks all the same. :-(

Bush pulled a fast one on gays when purportedly going back on his attempt to remove sexual orientation from the list of civil protections... And he's pulled stunts before to get into and stay in office. Anybody who thinks Election 2004 is going to be played out fair is a fool.

Given the amount of bubbles about to burst (deficit, offshoring, foreign outsourcing, housing, et al), it'd take a miracle to turn things around.

Iraq? Stabilized? Not while the US is in control. It must be handed over to the UN, with the UN directing our troops. Bush* is utterly incompetent, not to mention he had no coherent plan to start with.

It's going to take YEARS, if not DECADES, before any form of peace can be made between the Palestinians and Israelis. Isreal should just pack their things and move northward and go from there. If it belonged to the Palestinians to begin with, they should not be there. Our one-sided, lopsided, involvement only adds 150 octane petrol to the fire.

Peace and prosperity. Peace, maybe. Peak oil will shatter that shiny happy viewpoint rather quickly. And until the corporate execs stop their shenanigans, prosperity will not be given to the masses. A CEO who screws up and gets fired still gets millions in severance pay and they'll sometimes sue for more. :eyes: $26 million can raise one human from womb to the tomb in total comfort, with millions to spare. For the richest country on earth, the amount of suffering within is a gigantic insult. We claim to be a Christian nation, and yet those who make the claim readily ignore the best Biblical passages of them all:

1 Timothy 6:10
Matthew 5:44
Matthew 7:1
Matthew 25:37-40
Luke 6:31
Luke 17:21