Angry is the new black/ Hope is here

I want to thank dailykoser superskepticalman for posting a diary on his anger, and how he has allowed it to divide himself from his fellow Democrat, his fellow men and women.

Not only was I trollish, I've been trollish here lately. I'm sorry for that; at no time did I have to be. I don't want to do anything to turn new voters (or experienced voters) off the Democratic Party because of my primary season partisanship. One of me can't do much damage; many thousands more like me could: it would be shame to turn 2008 from 1932 into 1928. Sen. Obama would be the best candidate out there in the fall if he got the nomination. Sen. Clinton would be the best candidate in the fall if she got the nomination. John Edwards, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, Dennis Kucinich, and Mike Gravel (who did I leave out?) would each be the best candidate in the fall if any one of them got the nomination.

What happened was that I decided that I had to be as angry at fellow Democrats as I might be at the GOP because of my choice in Democratic candidates. That was just a stupid decision by me, and I'm sorry for being that stupid. I'd be grateful if you all will accept my apology for that.

The passion here for Democratic candidates has been more encouraging than anything I've seen for a long time. The passion of Obama supporters has been duplicated in Clinton supporters (and, while he was in it, Edwards supporters - of which I was one) and in the supporters for many House and Senate candidates. Success by our nominee in the fall will give backbone to our new and veteran Democratic senators and congressmen and women. It will give resolve to state Democratic parties, legislatures, and governors. It will go far to put the GOP on the kind of "manic defensive" that has been long overdue in the face of the Republican noise machine.

Dear Superskepticalman,

Thank you for posting this diary and having the courage to do so.

I think we have all been so angry for so long that we have forgotten how to hope, how to dream. I know that it has been true for me. We have then turned that anger on each other, and on ourselves. Who amongst us has not felt the tight knot in our stomachs every time we hear or see Bush speak, miscommunicating his latest failure of a policy that is too conveniently named in double-speak?

The GOP has gotten all of us - dailykosers, Democrats, Americans, so used to being in our own angry insular bubbles that it is so easy to lose track of the bigger picture.

That we're going to get a Democrat in office and that we'll have a chance to turn our lives, our country, and the world around. We have been failing the world as a leader, and we have the chance to change things. To move forward past these 8 years of misery, pain, deprivation, sorrow (oh look, there's my angry coming out again. . .)

But back to the brighter side of things. The GOP depends on us to stay angry and stay divided. And some anger is not a bad thing, it's a good fuel for when you get tired. But we were all so angry at Bush in 04, and it didn't get Kerry elected. At the end of the day anger must be tempered and guided by the shining light of hope. The civil rights movement was a success because of the burning hot passion of Malcolm X and because of the dreams that Martin Luther King Jr gave us. Because people felt so angry for so long, but also because they sensed an opportunity to change the status quo - they felt hopeful that one day their children would know a better world.

America is a beautiful country because we have been blessed to pass on to every succeeding generation a hope for a better world, even in the face of stark obstacles and worldwide chaos.

If I were a Republican strategist, I would be quaking in my Cole Haan penny loafers right now because there's millions of people who are devoted to working for change, fueled by the possibilities of a better tomorrow. There are millions of us, and we are powered by hope. No longer isolated in our cocoons, too distracted by our anger and too burnt out to do anything, too incapacitated by our mounting, seeming inability to change anything, we are uniting. Working alongside each other. Building dialogues. Building bridges to tomorrow.