Keep on the sunnyside
Always on the sunnyside
Keep on the sunnyside of life.
It will help us every day
It will brighten all our way
If we keep on the sunnyside of life.
(Words and Music By Al Carter and Gary Garett)
The fact that Americans are always looking on the sunny side of life has evidently stunned pollsters and members of the MSM. How can this be, they must be asking themselves? After all, we do our best day after day to be so gloomy we could make a hyena weep. Not so, says a poll taken by the New Jersey Medical School in Newark and conducted by McLaughlin and Associates:
The American spirit is alive and well: A landmark study released yesterday from a New Jersey medical school finds that the majority of us are overwhelmingly optimistic about the future, even if catastrophe looms on the horizon.A sampling: 82 percent of Americans ages 18 to 24 feel optimistic about their futures; 82 percent of those ages 25 to 44 do so as well; and 75 percent of those ages 45 to 64 and 64 percent of those 65 or older agree. Only 15 percent to 22 percent of the respondents say they have grown more pessimistic over the past five years.
And the press still wonders what people saw in Ronald Reagan?
What makes this study even more remarkable is the realistic view of the world and world events that people have which is conspicuously pragmatic as to what might happen:
Not all respondents were wearing rose-colored lenses, however: Between two-thirds and three-quarters of those in all the age groups fear the United States will suffer a biological or nuclear attack in the next 20 years.Thirty percent to 40 percent feel the country can solve all or most of its problems, yet it doesn’t deter the hopeful feelings. Across the board, 75 percent still insist they are optimistic about their futures, despite the global threats.
It’s been a hallmark of the American race for more than 200 years to look to the future and dream. We dream of a better life for our children, a better world for them to inherit. But why is this? In the face of some truly scary scenarios and despite the relentless negativity of the media, Americans still see a hopeful future. Is there something that might…just might be exceptional about this?
I know it terribly unfashionable and downright un-PC of me to even mention out loud the words “American Exceptionalism” but the fact is even if the politically correct left doesn’t believe in the concept the American people obviously do. Simply put, there is no other country on the planet – not in tired old Europe or the go-go economic miracle countries of Asia – where this spirit of optimism and hope is so imprinted on people’s psyches and taken as an article of semi-religious faith that it manifests itself in concrete, measurable economic and social accomplishments.
When people are looking to the future, they work harder, are measurably healthier, and by and large happier than people who are fearful of what’s to come. Nobel Prize winning economist Julian Simon spoke of this on several occasions.
Not to mention that optimists are generally easier to be around and get along with as anyone can attest.
Ultimately, it just goes to show that politicians (and pundits) should never underestimate the wisdom of the American people. And the best politicians are always the ones who appeal to “The better angels of our nature” as Lincoln said rather than the darkness that always seems to be gathering just over the horizon.
Also see:
8:32 am
Rick writes: “I know it terribly unfashionable and downright un-PC of me to even mention out loud the words “American Exceptionalism” but the fact is even if the politically correct left doesn’t believe in the concept the American people obviously do.”
You know, I saw a clip of John Kerry speaking in the well of the Senate about what makes America “different”. Kerry normally doesn’t want America different, but the same. The same as all the other countries. But for the self-centered John Kerry, rather Senator John Kerry, what makes America different is the unlimited debate of the Senate. What makes America different is that John Kerry can bloviate endlessly, literally, on the floor of the Senate.
I am not making this up.
11:07 am
The new AMG Poll (http://americanresearchgroup.com) shows Bush’s overall approval number sinking to a rather abysmal 43%, with his number on the economy an even worse 37%. Could this be caused by the negativity being put out by the liberal press? And if so, should we arrest them and send them to Guantanamo? If the press is making people feel negative, that’s a bad thing!
11:12 am
What your comment shows is that you’re totally clueless.
The poll referenced in my post was on the future. And the reason you’ll never get it is because the American people could give a rat’s ass who’s President or who’s in power. Their optimism is part of their heritage. They don’t get it from goverment which is why idiot leftists like you don’t understand it.
Your comment about Guantanamo is projection on your part. It’s what you want to do to your political foes not me.
11:18 am
Quick Shots: Hanging Out at the Nuthouse Edition
One good thing that came out of Terry Moran’s interview with Hugh Hewitt was that it threw a spotlight on his brother’s blog, the excellent Rightwing Nuthouse. I particularly like this entry, because it demonstrates that there are still believers in …
11:21 am
Oh, I see. The future. So after Bush is gone things will get better?
12:44 pm
Americans have a distinct upbeat attitude because of the nature of the society the founders created.
Ordinary Americans are able to see the fruit of their labour, in their own lives, and in the country they’ve created.
Thus hope is augmented by enterprise.
And the fruit of this combination of hope and enterprise, is a chipper, upbeat attitude.
Lincoln himself made the observation long before I did, {and much more eloquently}.
I’d give a cite to him, but can’t recall it off the top of my head.
12:55 pm
Big Air: Have you seen what’s going on at Fox News lately? According to News Hounds they’re in a six month ratings slide. Here’s some of the numbers: 10/04 1,074,000, 11/04 891,000 (their ratings started collapsing even BEFORE the election), and now? A measely 445,000. The gas has really leaked out of that turkey. So the lesson for you to take home? That ranting rightwing angry guy routine just isn’t cutting it anymore. People are just over it. While it was a popular form of expression a few years back, it is going the way of the Chia Pet today. You should change your shtick, my friend. That shit your putting up here is just soooo 2000.
2:06 pm
Frank Discussion,
I could care less about Fox News ratings. Should I roll over like a good yellow backed democRAT in relation to illegal immigration or libturd obstruction? Should I just sit quietly on your plantation and not question the status quo?
Maybe instead of posting sniveling drivel you can answer my question on Janice Brown?
2:24 pm
Tch. Such a mouth on you. Do you kiss your mother with that hole?
2:34 pm
Frank Discussion,
Scared to answer the question about Janice Brown? Is it difficult to acknowledge libturds are the party of lower expectations and have racist tendencies towards conservative blacks and minorities?
Tch. Such a mouth on you. Do you kiss your mother with that hole?
And no, I don’t kiss my mother with this mouth. She’s dead.
3:11 pm
Your assumptions are idiotic. Why would I care to dignify them with a response?
3:46 pm
Frank Discussion——“Your assumptions are idiotic.”
What assumptions? Was Collin Powell not called an “Uncle Tom” by libturds?
Was Clarence Thomas not called a “house negro” by libturds?
Was Condoleezza Rice not called “aunt Jamima” by libturds?
Did libturds in Calif not try and implement ebonics for blacks?
Didn’t Robert KKK Byrd say “white nigger” twice on national tv?
Which one of my “assumptions” is idiotic?
4:10 pm
Dear Hot Air -The Grand Old White Peoples’ Party draping itself in the banner of racial equality just so it can unconstitutionally enthrone some incompetent and reactionary fool is classless demagoguery at its laughable worst. Irrational and extremist thought are hardly a monopoly of any race, and both you and Ms Brown serve as excellent examples of that.
But listen, since you seem to have been made so terribly distraught by whatever demonic presence is rattling around the vast vacancies of your brain-case, here’s a little ditty to cheer you up:
http://harryshearer.com/clips/hard_work.mp3
4:40 pm
Frankly an Idiot,
Run coward run…..........
4:59 pm
“....and both you and Ms Brown serve as excellent examples of that.”
Frankly an Idiot,
I bet you’re dying to call Janice Brown a sell out or Uncle Tom, aren’t you?
5:06 pm
Nope. But you can’t seem to repeat it enough.
5:19 pm
So tell me Frank, what’s your gripe with Janice Brown or Persilla(sp?) Owens?
Are you upset that Judge Owens doesn’t think it’s appropriate for 14 year olds to get an abortion without parental notification? The ACLU of course loves the idea of legions of 14 year olds getting abortions without parental consent. The ACLU also feels parents don’t have the right to listen in on their own children’s conversations as demonstrated by a case in Oregon. Recently a kid called his/her principal a “skank” and the ACLU came out in defense of the child. Apparently the child’s 1st Amendment rights allow him/her to call their principal names without any repercussions…..Screw the democRATS.
6:25 pm
I personally don’t listen To Rush. As a conservative Jew I prefer listening to Medved and Prager. I notice you enjoy partaking in the art of throwing red herrings. Maybe you can try to answer my question coward.
As far as the CA state legislature, Janice Brown was elected (maybe it was re-elected) with 76% of the vote. Now answer the question, why are libturds afraid to give Brown and Owens an up or down vote? Do you libturds fear conservative women?
8:37 pm
Frank, since you are deeply ignorant about Janice Brown I have some reading material for you:
“Janice Rogers Brown’s Is A “Horatio Alger Story.” “If there is a female equivalent to an Horatio Alger story, then California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown’s journey from being the daughter of an Alabama sharecropper to serving on the Golden State’s high court fits the bill.” (Gwen Daye Richardson, Op-Ed, “California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown,” Headway/ Ethnic News Watch, 8/31/98)
Janice Rogers Brown Is “A California Supreme Court Justice, The Daughter Of A Sharecropper, An African-American And A Conservative.” (Kathy Kiely, “Senate On Brink Of ‘Nuclear’ Filibuster War,” USA Today, 4/15/05)
“As A Pioneer In Her Field, Brown Holds An Optimistic, Though Balanced, View Of Our Nation.” “As a pioneer in her field, Brown holds an optimistic, though balanced, view of our nation. ‘Our country has unique problems,’ she says. ‘We don’t do things perfectly, sometimes we don’t even do them well. But we are at least trying to accommodate political equality. Our peculiar history of slavery forces us to deal with issues of inequality. However poorly we may have done it, we have been able to maintain a stable democracy, and that is the great legacy of America.’” (Gwen Daye Richardson, Op-Ed, “California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown,” Headway/ Ethnic News Watch, 8/31/98)”
http://upordownvote.com/xp303htm/brown_bio.htm