We've got this

If your news diet consists mostly of domestic politics and scandals bedeviling both political parties – albeit one party more than the other – it’s easy to settle into an “all is lost” or “it will never get better” attitude.  Our political news is depressing.  The challenges we face as a country that is divided against itself can seem overwhelming.

I’m here to tell you that all is not lost. 

What we need as a people, and badly as the Democratic Party, is a more positive attitude.  The other political party is mired in the doom and gloom of their Maximum Leader, whose firehose of daily negativity and grievance and lies now defines the Republican Party.  Those who regularly consume the steady diet of that man and his puppets in Congress and in red states dominated by that party live in a universe of bottomless depression and anxiety.

I contend that most people don’t want to be depressed and angry all the time.  They want to be proud of the country they live in.  This Memorial Day, when we gave thanks for the sacrifice of members of our military who have given their lives to defend our liberties, it was a reminder that we can be proud of them at the same time we are sad for the sacrifice of their lives.  As we recover from the tornados of this weekend and more that will surely come, we can be proud of the way communities come together to help people in need, no matter their political leanings.

Some of us are Democrats, some of us are Republicans, and some of us are Independents.  We believe differently, we live different lives in different areas of the country, but in the end, blood flows through all our veins and we share the same struggles brought upon us by disease and disaster and personal tragedy.

It is important to remember that we have more in common than we often think.  We can get through this.  We can pitch in and help each other when the need arises, as it has with the storms and tornados across the country this Memorial Day weekend.  We can vote.  We can win.  We’ve got this.

This is an excerpt from my weekly Salon column. To read the rest of the column, click the link below:

All is not lost