Is it OK to be just a little bit optimistic?

[MoonRiver]

I've read several threads lately about Dem candidates surging in the polls. OF COURSE, many happy posts follow. However, there are inevitably a slew of negative posts, sometimes just as many as the joyous ones, warning us not to get our hopes up and stupid Dems they always overestimate their ability to win.

I just can't understand why people are such naysayers when evidence of an electoral victory is presented! Frankly, I get bummed out by those depressing negative posts. I think it is unnecessary to warn us about the risk of Repukes cheating and the horrors of e-voting. (If WE don't know that nobody does.) STILL, the fact that polls indicate we are the American peoples' choice, in numerous races around the country, is incredibly encouraging.

I don't buy that even a government as corrupt as this one can squelch an electoral ground surge without declaring martial law. Even if this is a possibility, why go there on threads designed to spread good news and build optimism. I can't see the harm in celebrating our achievements and building excitement, especially among the activists on DU. It's not like we're going to say, alright, it's a done deal and I'm going to stay home on voting day. In fact, the exact opposite will occur. Everybody prefers to be on a winning team. I predict we will all work our fingers to the bone this November, especially as it appears our efforts will bear fruit.

Any thoughts?

[rodeodance]

1. nov of 2004 was SO depressing to me. I will not be optimistic till the

fat lady sings.

[MoonRiver]

4. I know. I've been through three horrible disappointments since 2000.

The negative/anxious feelings are there, but I just don't think it's fair to bum everybody out by openly dwelling on them. Frankly, I really enjoy reading about surging poll numbers. I don't underestimate the Pukes cheating ability, but it's going to be very hard for them to pull off another big theft if all of these poll numbers hold.

[NewJeffCT]

Just be yourself

I'm a natural pessimist, and even I was swept up by what I thought was the sunny optimism on DU in the months leading up to the 2004 election. Needless to say, my experience with sunny optimism did not turn out for the best.

But, I do read DU entirely differently than you, it seems. I now almost tune out the "I converted a Republican" threads that have been popping up daily on DU for the 3 years I've been here.

[bdamomma]

2. I think we all have to get out there and vote

or we can kiss that privilege away also. We have to get out there, and stop all this negative thinking. We have to stop being gutless.

[Demeter]

3. Well, That's Just the Rub, Isn't It?

While we are by nature and by choice born optimists and dying for a word of good news, after 6 years of "acid rain" we are just waiting for the final shoe to drop and martial law to be declared. The only impediment seems to be that our army is missing in action.

And the inevitability of stolen elections is a daunting problem, one for which we are not finding solutions. It may have to get much worse before it truly starts to get better. The bright spot is, once the political situation turns, it will turn in a flash. The GOP will cease to exist as anything other than an historical horror show.

If you have ever seen the musical play, "Man of La Mancha", you might appreciate the state we are in. Against the horrors of the Inquisition, Cervantes manages to bring a ray of hope with his Impossible Dream. It isn't a happy story, or a happy ending, but it is a story of great courage, which is the one thing we must have.

[pooja]

7. Its much better read in original text, if you know Spanish

It is actually a writing style that is written mostly in the imperfect tense. Its great if you understand the nuance of the language. but oh, I forgot, nuthin' but inglish for 'mericans

[SmokingJacket]

5. People are just reluctant to get too happy.

No one wants to get burned!

2004 was so *horribly* disappointing. I'm not over it yet.

I'm trying not to get emotionally involved until AFTER we win.

[MoonRiver]

6. I did say "just a little bit".

I just want to feel and share happiness over the good news, while also knowing the cheaters are in full gear to steal another one. I don't have a crystal ball, but why always assume the worst? Hard as they try, they might not get away with it this time.

[SmokingJacket]

10. I don't disagree... and understand your desire to stay positive.

But it might be asking for a bit too much around here!

The cycle of excitement and happiness followed by dashed hopes has gotten *very* old for some of us.

[The2ndWheel]

8. There has to be a counter-balance

Optimists have to co-exist with pessimists. Everyone doesn't get giddy. If we all agreed on everything, what would be the point?

[quiet.american]

9. What can I say -- "don't spend it, 'til you got it."

You have a point, and optimism has its place, but we've already had two national elections where the will of the nation was thwarted because criminal conservatives openly oppressed the vote in minority communities and under cover of darkness manipulated electronic voting machines -- we can work our fingers to the bone all we want, but if the leadership of the Democratic Party doesn't focus on tactics to circumvent GOP election fraud, recent history makes for a very cautious optimism.

[Totally Committed]

11. I think every time we allow ourselves to feel positively about the coming

elections, especially as a group (as long as it is not delusional), we are attracting good/positive energy to the process. That having been said, we all know the truth about elections in America these days, so a certain amount of pessimism soon follows.

Here is what I do: Every time I allow myself to feel good about the prospect of our taking back the House, the Senate, or both... I imagine it happening easily. I let myself really go with it for a moment or two. As soon as my reverie is over, however, I dedicate myself to making sure it really happens, and go about doing all the things I do to make it so.

I feel strongly that "groupthink" is a very powerful energy, and if we all allow ourselves to feel complete and total victory for our side a few minutes a day, we can make it easier for that to happen. I know... New Age-y, but I do believe it. (I also meditate twice a day for peace, so you can take the woman out of the "New Age", but can you take the New Age out of the woman? -- I'm still an aging hippie living in the "Age of Aquarius" I think! LOL!)

TC

[Jed Dilligan]

12. I was a pessimist leading up to 2004,

and my October bar tab was $500.

But my friends were optimists, and they've never recovered.

I was the one trying to cheer them up the day after the "election."

[Armstead]

13. Be optimistic after November Election Day

Our side has been kicked in the butt too many times since 2000.

The signs look better than they have in a long time, but many of us have developed an ingrained cautious relex -- especially after 2004.

[SteppingRazor]

14. I'm for realism...

I'm hugely optimistic about things like the Florida Senate race or the Ohio governor race. Blackwell and Harris are both screwed, and those pigs had it coming.

But by the same token -- looking at things pragmatically, I'm worried about the senate races in Pennsylvania, Montana, Rhode Island, Missouri, Tennessee, and all the other close, battlegrounds from which we may draw a senate majority. Each one is coming down to a nailbiter, so it's understandable to be worried over it.

But, as far as whining about people like Blackwell or Harris somehow winning through vote rigging, no, I don't buy into that sort of pessimistic and, really, unrealistic outlook. Those two are so far down in the polls that a vote-rigging scheme would only serve to put Republicans in jail -- and the people who would ordinarily help out Harris are well aware of it, as witnessed by the waves of defections from the Harris campaign. I mean, come on -- the woman has gone through FOUR campaign managers, for God's sake.

[janx]

15. You're worried about Montana?

Really?

[SteppingRazor]

17. The July Rasmussen's got Tester up 50 to 43...

so, no, not as much as I am, say, Tennessee. In fact, Montana could be less worrisome than Pennsylvania if Burns' latest idiocy (see this week's Top 10 Conservative Idiots) has any effect on the polls.

But anything in single digits is really anybody's game. So, am I worried? Sure. Am I convinced we have serious problems in Montana, that we're in a deep hole? Not at all.

[SheilaT]

16. I am normally a very optimistic

and upbeat person. But I'm one of the negative posters on the happy posts. For one thing, if a lot of Democrats just relax, thinking that of course we'll win in November, then they won't be out there working for individual candidates as they should be.

And as for "evidence of an electoral victory", I remember 2004 all too well. Over and over again polls showed that Kerry would win. Even John Zogby himself said so on The Daily Show. Over and over again we heard people say "I voted for Bush in 2000, but by God I'm not going to vote for him this year". Both ordinary voters and prominent Republicans said that. And what happened?

I've been saying repeatedly that the people currently in power came to power in a coup, and they will not willingly give up that power, least of all to something as silly as a free, fair, and honest election. I sincerely hope I'm wrong, and that Democrats will be in a majority in at least one house of Congress, but given the history of these people, and the lack of upper level Democrats fighting back appropriately, I doubt it. Where are the ads decrying the abandonment of New Orleans? Where are the ads pointing out that a hundred Iraqis are being murdered DAILY in Baghdad alone? Where are the ads pointing out how senior citizens are being screwed by the new prescription coverage? Where are the ads pointing out that the "family values" Republicans have dissolute children, multiple divorces, DUIs, and other wretched incidents in their past?

And too many Democratic incumbents voted for the war in Iraq and are yet to repudiate that vote. Until they do, there's no hope for getting out in the foreseeable future.

All that is why I post negative comments when I see blithely happy unrealistic optimism here.