Michele's thread on Positive signs of cooperation and understanding, filled me with hope. I want that thread to keep going because it gives me hope that the divide can be bridged. I'm adding this one with a slightly broader focus -- why there is hope.
I hope (pun intended) that many of you will find stories that show us that in spite of the negative developments, the underlying thrust of civilization is positive. And that there is hope.
A Noam Chomsky interview I read this morning gave me hope that in spite of the stolen elections, and new set of GOP gerrymandering going on for the 2018 midterms, there is still hope that the electorate will find and elect the right candidate. Chomsky, an M.I.T. intellectual Renaissance man gifted in many fields - linguistics, philosophy, political analysis, doesn't pull any punches. He knows how dire our world situation is, and doesn't hesitate to express it. Yet he has hope --
“I think if you take a look at the last election the outcome in many ways is extremely optimistic. And the reason is the quite remarkable success of the Sanders campaign. Which remember, is a break, a sharp break of at least 100 years of American political history.”
“Sanders totally broke it, no funding, enormous success, now he’s the most popular candidate in the country. What does that tell you about the electorate? If somebody could approach people with policies that mean something to them, those… working people who voted for Obama and were disillusioned, don’t have to be disillusioned. There are policies, very sensible policies that could meet their perfectly justified hopes and aspirations. It doesn’t look like to me a hopeless situation—it seems to be a dysfunctional political and economic system which can be changed…The fact that it is a very free country, gives us the opportunities, just have to grasp them.”