"Optimism, Anyone?" by Dan Davis

 

“…I’m uncomfortable with a defining statement of principles that requires a belief in optimism. I can no more ‘believe in’ optimism than I can believe there is a god, or that the United States is the greatest country in the history of the world (whatever that means), or like Pangloss in Voltaire’s Candide, that every awful occurrence is really for the best because we live in the best of all possible worlds... 

“Optimism in today’s United States would border on delusional. Truth itself is under attack. The assault is led by an orange madman who was elected president once, nearly elected again, and may be elected in the next cycle.

“One of our two major political parties has embraced this madman’s lunacy, kowtowing to his nihilistic whims and promoting his lies in support of its antidemocratic agenda. The other party, while generally well-intentioned, seems too hobbled by civility and protocol to mount an effective opposition.\

“Nearly half the country (74 million voters!) endorses Donald Trump’s insanity and wants to reinstate him. Due to our anachronistic governmental structure and electoral system, Trump’s supporters have been able to clog the legislative process and impose their minority programs on the majority of people.

“Their leaders unabashedly lie to achieve their desired goals, which include overturning the election results, rescinding the right of women to control their own bodies, forcing their particularly obnoxious version of Christianity into a position of national privilege, confounding all efforts to mitigate climate change, and endangering the lives of our citizens by advancing a false narrative about COVID-19 vaccines.

“Our nation is teetering on the brink of an authoritarian coup. The success or the failure of that coup may well depend on the outcome of our forthcoming midterm election, which right now isn’t looking too promising. Optimism, anyone? ...” (from “On the Affirmation of Humanism,” Free Inquiry, February-March 2022).