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WEDNESDAY GOOD NEWS ROUNDUP - ON HOPE & OPTIMISM 9-6-'23 [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-09-06

The themes of Hope and Optimism have been on my mind a lot lately, and they seem to resonate with a big part of the DK community. So without further adeiu...

DEFINITIONS: According to the Cambridge Dictionary, hope is “something good that you want to happen in the future, or a confident feeling about what will happen in the future,” and optimism is “the quality of being full of hope and emphasizing the good parts of a situation, or a belief that something good will happen”.

** Speaking only for myself, I am unable to fully function as a person , let alone as an activist, without a supply of hope as well as a good measure of optimism. I have to believe that my taking action will have some meaning, some contribution to changing conditions, some additive effect. While I have some cynical notions as well, I need to put them on the back burner. Otherwise, I will never take the risks of any initiatives or actions.

Some thoughts on Hope:

**“The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.”

― Barack Obama

** “Remember, Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”

― Stephen King

** “I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one's head pointed toward the sun, one's feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.”

― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: Autobiography of Nelson Mandela

** “Optimism doesn’t mean that you are blind to the reality of the situation. It means that you remain motivated to seek a solution to whatever problems arise.”

— The Dalai Lama

**

** “Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, it's unlikely you will step up and take responsibility for making it so. If you assume that there's no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope.”

— Noam Chomsky

** “I do have reasons for hope: our clever brains, the resilience of nature, the indomitable human spirit, and above all, the commitment of young people when they’re empowered to take action.”

— Jane Goodall

In conclusion, I have no realistic choice but to be hopeful, and to be optimistic about the future. I think DK has a few too many cynics- though far fewer than in the population as a whole.

And we (Dems, Kossacks, et. al.) need to instill more hope, and more optimism , in the new voters coming into American society. Between roughly Nov. 1st, 2020, and Nov. 1st, 2024, about 15-16 million students will have graduated from US high schools during that period. At the same time, we’ve lost about 10 million people-mainly due to old age. Demographics is creating change, and as many here have noted, about 63% of those newly registering to vote are registering as Democrats.

So, Considering those millions of new voters- who are replacing older and more conservative voters, we have a golden opportunity for major change on the state and local level, as well as on the national level- the House and the Senate. Let’s make the most of it! Those 15 million-plus voters are the future of democracy.

**Every year, about 4 million Americans turn 18 and gain the right to vote. In the eight years between the 2016 and 2024 elections, that’s 32 million new eligible voters.

**Also every year, 2½ million older Americans die. So in the same eight years, that’s as many as 20 million fewer older voters. Opening music from Jimmy Cliff — You’ll succeed at last!! x x YouTube Video

24 Ways to Grow Voters before 2024

circle.tufts.edu/…

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/9/6/2189858/-WEDNESDAY-GOOD-NEWS-ROUNDUP-ON-HOPE-OPTIMISM-9-6-23

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