I'm usually a very optimistic person...

[kentuck]

But, even before the election, there was a sense of foreboding dread.

We, like animals, have certain instincts.

There was something unknown on the horizon and it could not be trusted.

It only got worse after the election. It was not fear of the unknown - it was fear of the known.

And I keep asking myself, "Is it only me?"

Where will I find the lost optimism?

[LaydeeBug]

1. in fighting back...THEY know this is stolen too

Notice the lack of gloating.

[kentuck]

2. Their silence is consent.

and we must never forget that.

[unblock]

5. hell, their vote in november was direct and eager consent.

any quietness now is simply the closest to a sense of shame they'll ever get.

[vlyons]

3. You're not the only one.

As a senior citizen, I fully expect to get stabbed in the back, when the GOP destroys medicare and social security. I'm having suicidal thoughts about eating my pistol.

[kentuck]

6. I think this is terrible on senior citizens...

And they make no attempts to qualm the fear and insecurities.

I fear for some cataclysmic event with a large loss of life.

I am unable to shake this feeling of impending disaster.

It's a terrible feeling.

[Tanuki]

10. Stay strong, dear vylons.

http://addicted2success.com/quotes/100-dalai-lama-quotes-that-will-change-your-life/

....."There is a saying in Tibetan, ‘Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.’

No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that’s our real disaster.” ― Dalai Lama"...

[vlyons]

19. I'm working on it.

Already sent emails to my senators and congressman - even though they are horrible and don't gice a crap about Seniors.

[Tatiana]

22. Hang in there. It won't be easy, but we WILL survive this.

It sucked as a national campaign slogan, but it really is true: we're stronger together.

[kickitup]

4. At this point, I am not necessarily pessimistic, more like "whatever."

I live in Kentucky, too (I'm assuming you do because of your user name) and I'm just fucking tired. My young nephew was telling everybody "Have a Merry Christmas and a Deplorable New Year." He got a Trump tree ornament. He just got baptized a few months ago. How the hell people can put all this together and make it okay in their heads is beyond me. Fundamentalist Christians in my family voting for Trump because they read a book from the local library about Hillary and she said bad words to her secret service detail or something. And of course abortion. It all comes down to abortion. And they've all been to that stupid ark in Northern Kentucky.

I have defended Obama for the last 8 years and listened to the most "Christian" people around me talk about him like he is scum and carry on about godless liberals and how liberals just want free stuff, while the "takers" I know are white, right-wing, Christian conservatives. But you know what? It is as I told my husband - we do okay and will do okay, and these people are getting ready to get hid hard and I'll have a lot of trouble feeling sympathy for any of them. Children in my area of Kentucky wouldn't eat if it weren't for federal dollars pouring in, yet they all get foaming in the mouth angry in regard to the federal government. Maybe they should just take it all away for a few years.

That's where I am in all this.

[kentuck]

8. I don't wish anyone to suffer...

It's not in my heart. Even though the stupidity can make us very angry at times.

[Tatiana]

24. You're right. It is time for them to feel the consequences of their votes.

They need to start taking away some of these government benefits. People have the luxury of voting their racism or their class or their misogyny because they don't suffer any consequences for doing so. If they had in their heads that voting for a racist moron = losing my health insurance and food stamps... well then you might get more people voting their economic interests.

It's time to really let Jesus take the wheel. Let them repeal Obamacare. Let them restructure the Department of Ag and curtail the food stamp program.

It's going to be like Dubya... only when the malfeasance has reached citizens' maximum level of tolerance will they revolt. And literally kick Trump out of office to the sound of "Hey, hey hey... goodbye!"

[lunasun]

7. No answers except to say you are not alone in your current lack of optimism

[ananda]

9. I hear you.

The only place I find optimism is in the individual moments ..
like the lady I met in the laundry room who drives Meals on
Wheels and delivers to a woman in my complex. This driver
was doing the woman's laundry and also cleans for her, all
for free. I gave her a big hug and a donation. She said she
felt so blessed, and I did too just to have met her.

For me, that was Christmas. The best ever!

[Bettie]

11. I've got nothing to feel optimistic about

Our country has been taken over by people who are frankly, nazis.

I hated W. I did not think he would set out to burn it all down.

This orange creature and his minions (and I include congressional Republicans in this) want to kill our nation and feed on the corpse. They want to strip everything of value and put it into their own pockets.

No one will stop this.

I have two boys who will turn 18 under this creature's term. I worry about them and they are white males. They'll have it better than most. I fear even more for the kids of other mothers who don't have the built-in advantage of being white and male.

[kentuck]

12. Sometimes I think he may have a deathwish?

and wants to go out in a blaze of glory?

I wish our Congress had demanded medical records from him before it got to this point.

He's a death machine.

[Bettie]

13. He's actually not even the most frightening of them

he's a blowhard who loves to hear himself talk and will roll over for anyone who compliments him.

I worry about the others: Pence, Ryan, McConnell, and his many horrible friends he wants to help him run things. When they start checking things off their wish lists we are well and truly screwed.

[kentuck]

14. But he's their leader...

and they will follow.

[Bettie]

15. And he will sign everything they put in front of his ugly

orange face.

As long as they tell him "it's gonna be real good Donnie, real good".

He'll lead by being the bully those who voted for him want and having Hitler-esque rallies to make his ego even bigger.

[kentuck]

16. But they will ask him before they put anything in front of him.

They will all bow before him, as Omarosa stated.

[Bettie]

17. Yeah, they will

we'll be forced to call him Dear Leader or King Donald before too long.

I'm betting they're already working on a way to make him president for life or emperor or some such thing.

[kentuck]

18. I do not expect much opposition from any Republicans...

Not even McCain or Graham. They will pretend but will mostly go along with Trump's agenda. I hope I am wrong.

[Bettie]

20. I believe the same thing

and hope that I am wrong.

But, those guys do one thing really well and that is follow their marching orders. They do as they are told without question.

[Cosmocat]

21. I kept telling people here before the election

that a Hillary win would been UGLY.

Not because of her, but the reaction from the right would have been INFINITELY worse than even the last 8 years with BHO.

I was absolutely convinced someone was going end up getting killed if she nominated a SCJ who was going to be voted in by a D senate.

Had she been elected there WOULD have been a VERY big"second amendment" event of kind in DC.

The vile and hatred was there, in a BIG way, just a matter of how it fomented.

Honestly, as bad as it is going to be, it probably is best, from a violence standpoint, that it is going to happen this way.

[Act_of_Reparation]

23. Why would you want it back?

I've always found realism more useful than illusory confidence.

[kentuck]

25. And what is the realism you see?

Optimism is "illusory confidence"?

[Act_of_Reparation]

26. The universe is capricious, indifferent to your suffering, and unconcerned with your happiness.

We are walking, talking, hairless apes, and try as though we may to mitigate or otherwise assuage ourselves of the threat of ever-looming chaos by imposing tacit order where no natural order exists, we are, at the end of the day, walking, talking, hairless apes. Your neighbor is a friendly, decent guy... when there's food on the table, beer in the fridge, and football on the television. When shit goes sideways, he will eat you alive if he has to.

That's reality.

And yes, optimism is illusory confidence. It is belief, in the complete absence of evidence, that good times are just around the corner (they're not), that things can't get worse (they can), or that things could always be worse (they are, if not for you then for someone else).

[kentuck]

27. That's rather a sad commentary on life...

...with no hope and little we can do to improve the world because we are nothing but "hairless apes" who are nothing but slaves to the "ever-looming
chaos" of the jungle. Thanks for your encouraging realism.

[Act_of_Reparation]

28. If I thought things couldn't be improved, I probably wouldn't be here.

Our only hope for even partial liberation from the chaos is, as I said, to bring tacit order where no natural order exists. Rule of law, ethics, justice... these aren't Platonic concepts floating around the Realm of Ideal Forms. We (humans) made them up to provide our children a somewhat saner, somewhat more predictable existence. We can't make people be decent to each other, but we can sure as shit try.

[kentuck]

30. That's exactly what is under threat.

That is why people are fearful and pessimistic. The rule of law and justice are being attacked unlike any time in our lives. We have to believe we are more than hairless apes living in chaos with no natural order.

[Act_of_Reparation]

32. We don't need to believe anything of the sort.

For thousands of years, we've been filling people's heads with nonsense about being special. It's called "religion". Look how that turned out.

[kentuck]

34. Obviously philosophically impaired.

[Cracklin Charlie]

29. Do you have any 2 year old friends?

My 1 1/2 (today!) year old granddaughter is probably the only reason I'm not drooling in a cup since Election Day.

She got a bunch of new toys last week! Fun times!

[Proud Liberal Dem]

31. The outcome of this last election has been hard on all of us

However, I'm still ready and willing to fight, perhaps even moreso than ever. I still see a lot of pessimism/defeatism here and other Democratic/left-wing forums/blogs, but I'd like to believe that we'll all get our collective s**t together as soon as the new Congress starts next week and especially when Trump takes the oath of office later next month. As bad or bleak as things look right now, a lot of us have been there before with George W. Bush and I remember how bad everything looked when he got (re-)elected in 2004 but we won a huge victory over Social Security despite being totally outnumbered/outgunned and then we won Congress and the Presidency back 2-4 years later. There's no reason to believe that Trump will be a successful President, nor that the Republicans will be able to just waltz in and dismantle the entire social safety net without any resistance, especially if we fight them on the ground and get our Congressmen and Senators to do what they can to fight them.

[sweetroxie]

33. Considering ending my life

before the GOP can end it for me.