There was a time, on both sides of the aisle, when being upbeat in politics was considered admirable. VP Hubert H. Humphrey was known as the "Happy Warrior." Pres Ronald Reagan, the "Gipper," was widely recognized for his sunny, forever optimistic persona. 

Now, it seems many Dem/Repub pols, activists, journalists, academicians--and beaucoup peeps on (anti)social media--are terminally angry, perpetually offended, lack humility, at times fearful, so convinced their view is correct yours does not deserve hearing, and nasty.

I don't think Humphrey or Reagan were clueless Pollyannas. I think they operated with a different worldview than most of the "elites" we endure today. Maybe I sound like an old guy, but I miss the forward-thinking energy you can hear in--

--FDR re the Depression and later the War, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." 

--JFK, "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."

--MLK Jr, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." 

--GHWBush, "I have spoken of a thousand points of light, of all the community organizations that are spread like stars throughout the nation, doing good." 

While not every American is Christian, the nation has been thoroughly influenced by Christian thought from before its founding, and optimism is a uniquely Christian attitude. Hope, particularly in the future, must come from faith in the Sovereign God. 

Other worldviews do not provide hope, or if they attempt to do so, they don’t know how to deal with the reality of evil. Christianity resolves the question of good and evil and gives people reason for optimism. 

Our culture’s pell-mell rush during my lifetime to abandon Christian values in favor of the latest Ism is what’s brought us to this point: elites with no optimism, no real hope. 

Only way to get hope and optimism back is to embrace what God told us long ago:

“But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:31).

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2021   

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