Don't Worry, Be Happy - David Brooks

My favorite political columnist argues today that we have purely-factual reasons to be optimistic about life:

Can you spare a moment for the nation's sole remaining optimist?

The Times/CBS News Poll reported yesterday revealed that Americans are more pessimistic about the country's direction than at almost any time in the past 23 years. ...

But from where I sit as president of the Prozac Would Be Redundant Society, all the negativity is a few months out of date.

First, look at some fundamentals. The International Monetary Fund predicts that the world economy will grow at 4.9 percent, which would be the second-fastest annual rate in three decades. Free institutions spread more quickly last year than in any year since 1972, when Freedom House began measuring these things. According to the Human Security Report, the number of wars with at least 1,000 deaths in battle has dropped by 80 percent since 1992. Air pollution levels are plummeting; over the last three years we've had the lowest level of ozone smog violations on record.

The reason people are down is not because their own lives are awful — it's because they're suffering a crisis of authority. They no longer have confidence in the institutions that are supposed to maintain order in their lives, whether the topic's terrorism, gas prices or federal spending.

But even here, the latest news is good. Look around at all the green shoots of political renewal....

David Brooks, Don't Worry, Be Happy, New York Times, May 11, 2006.

Comments

[Peter]

I have no idea what Brooks is smoking, but it's powerful stuff. That man is so out of touch with reality, that it boggles the mind.