Reasons for optimism:

[bemildred]

Nobody knows what will happen, but I offer some positive outcomes for Husb2Sparky:

1.) The end of 30 years of egregious misrule.

2.) The collapse of the "two party system" in this country, and consequently the beginnings of true political reform.

3.) The final discrediting - well for a generation or two anyway - of Free Market mumbo jumbo economic witch doctors and their tautological bullshit.

4.) The end of the "Fuck you Jack, I've got mine!" political culture in the US and a resumption of community and mutual responsibility as political values here. It is telling that Obama harps on this point.

5.) The Sheeple wake up and figure out who is fleecing them and stop believing the bullshit shovelled out on TV.

6.) Public health care (not "insurance"), public transit, and the restoration of government to it's proper role and responsibility in a democratic republic.

7.) The collapse of the empire, the Pentagon, and the delusion that the USA is "threatened" by anybody in the whole world who doesn't want to obey.

8.) Reform of the election system, such as to make it's purpose to determine and carry out the will of the people, as opposed to the current one, which serves mainly to obscure it and thwart it.

Of course, we may not get all that, it's still up to us in many ways, but you asked for optimism.

[Oregone]

1. 9) Breadlines

Hurray!

Many extreme events throughout history can act as catalysts for positive change, but until such change occurs, poverty can grip and destroy people's lives. The bottom line is people, normally at the bottom, suffer through such times in disproportional amounts. To tell everyone to put a smile on their face while people lose jobs, homes, assets, loved ones (if it even gets that bad), is a bit naive.

If the tragedy that so often befell us was so apt to create paradise, by now in the 21st Century, one would not need to look so far to find Utopia abound. All I see is pain.

[bemildred]

2. Oh I don't deny it's going to get ugly.

What Dumbsfeld called "creative destruction", which is always easier to contemplate when you yourself are standing somewhere off to the side of the action. A historical review of the 1930s is probably a good way to get an idea of the possibilities. "The Grapes of Wrath" is a great book, too.

You are misreading me if you think I am telling people to "put a smile on their faces".