American Optimism: Where Did It Go?
The role of optimistic leaders in American history, the circumstance that caused us to lose hope, and the man who refused to let it slip away.
Optimism as an American principle
Optimism is the belief that everything will turn out for the best, and as the great history of our nation shows, optimism is an attractive principle that all of our greatest leaders share. It is used to lift our people in times of struggle, inspire us in times of prosperity, and guide us in times of uncertainty. If there is nothing else we can do, why not strive for the best outcome? Our people’s shared hopes for the future have made this the greatest nation in Earth’s history.
Take for example one of the most effective speakers to ever serve as President of the United States, John F. Kennedy. Kennedy’s presidency was unstable. The powers within the United States government largely did not like him, and he experienced much conflict. The Cuban Missile Crisis played out under his watch in 1962, hardly the only Cold War tension to flare up during his tenure in office. Despite this, Kennedy is remembered fondly as an inspiring leader and true American. Part of this was his never-ending optimism on display to the American people. Take this famous quote from Kennedy’s address at Rice University:
“We choose to go to the Moon. 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, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”
If you, as an American, can read this without your heart swelling with pride and gratitude to be a citizen of this great nation, please keep reading. This essay is for you. However, if you read this quote and feel a fire in your heart to call this country home, you are not alone. This is the value and principle that built this country, and it is a dying sentiment that must be restored to bring our nation to glory.
The Declaration of Independence
When those who declared independence from Britain signed the Declaration of Independence, they had approximately no idea how things would turn out. Effectively, they were signing a death warrant and sending their treasonous intentions directly to the British crown in an, up to that point, unprecedented display of defiance. Yet, when we read the Declaration, you see a radiant display of hope in the very first few paragraphs.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”
This reads like poetry, yet it is important to remind ourselves that the Declaration of Independence did not start the war for independence, it had already been going for quite some time. In fact, we often place the beginning of the Revolutionary War at the battles of Lexington and Concord in April of 1775, 15 months before the Declaration was written. Even then, the Boston Tea Party occurred in December of 1773, leading to the complete blockade of the Boston harbor the next year. Before this, the Boston Massacre occurred in 1770, resulting in 5 deaths.
Suffice to say, the colonists and signatories to the Declaration of Independence understood the stakes, were not deterred, and saw their fight as a righteous battle for the liberation of every soul within the colonies. This is self-evident in a plain reading of the list of grievances levied against the crown. Beyond this, the signatories stood in complete solidarity through the hardships that awaited them.
“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honor.”
These men, 56 in total, suffered greatly; however, Richard Stockton of New Jersey perhaps suffered the worst fate of all those who signed. Towards the end of the year in 1776, he was captured and imprisoned by the British, where he was starved and tortured for five weeks before being released. When he returned to his home, he found it largely destroyed. Francis Lewis of New York saw his wife imprisoned where she would be treated similarly to Stockton, leading to her death. His home, too, would be destroyed. This is just the plight of a few, yet none of those who signed the Declaration of Independence ever expressed regret for their choice to do so.
The Thirteen Colonies
Many of those who traveled the Atlantic in the 1600s and founded the first North American colonies were victims of religious persecution, looking for lands far from control of the crown to practice their religion as they pleased. The landing at Plymouth Rock was a momentous occasion in the settling of the northern colonies. The Mayflower landed late into the year of 1620. Though they had been aiming for Virginia, they instead landed in what would become Massachusetts. While many of the men on board the ship were Puritans, not all were. Nonetheless, forced by the coming harsh winter conditions and low provisions, they were left with no choice but to settle together. This was the basis for the Mayflower Compact.
“Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first colony in the Northerne Parts of Virginia; doe, by these Presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick…”
You may notice a clear parallel between this snippet of the Mayflower Compact and the tail end of the Declaration of Independence. It is the same optimism and faith placed into the men around them that would lead to their eventual success in founding one of the great American colonies. The men of the Mayflower made a choice that they would rather place their faith in God and one another, their hopes in a future for themselves and their religion, and brave the harsh elements of the untamed wilderness of the new American continent, than to suffer another moment under the British crown, who had inhibited their ability to worship as they chose.
This was not the only colony founded on religious principles. Pennsylvania was similarly founded by the Quakers, Maryland by Catholics, and Rhode Island founded on the principles of non-religious discrimination, allowing all practices of Christianity. The American continent was rugged in comparison to Europe, with a more extreme climate, a large number of predators, such as wolves and bears, and no support structure for new colonies to turn to were things to take a turn for the worse. Still, the settlement of the continent was largely unburdened by the ties of old Europe and was full of new opportunities for those who dared to take them.
Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg was the single bloodiest battle of the Civil War, seeing over 50,000 casualties between both the United States and Confederate armies. This is a level of tragedy unimaginable by today’s standards, where there has not been a true battle fought on US soil since World War II. Even then, the casualty count of Pearl Harbor was not even a tenth of Gettysburg, nor does it reflect the tragedy of pitting brothers against themselves. Regardless, the Battle of Gettysburg served as a definitive turning point for the Union and the Confederates would not fully recover from the loss.
Recognizing the importance of the battle and immense scale of death, President Abraham Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg address in November of 1863, four months after the battle. It is a short and mostly solemn speech, but it leaves no room for a pessimistic interpretation, instead choosing to highlight the significance of the moment as an opportunity that cannot be wasted.
“Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that this nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.”
President Lincoln held no misunderstandings that his address, or the address of any man at such an event, was insignificant next to the price paid in blood by those who fought and died or were maimed to protect the values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that we hold so dear. It is an ultimate price, and not one to ever be treated lightly.
“But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate–we cannot consecrate–we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.”
What President Lincoln understood is that it is solely in the power of the living, the survivor, to ensure that the men who gave their lives to protect our sacred values did not die in vain. This is a great honor, not a burden, that we are tasked with and cannot abdicate to anyone else.
“It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us–that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people by the people for the people shall not perish from this earth.”
President Lincoln had suffered greatly during the war. It is a heavy burden for any man to see his country fall to chaos, but more so to watch as his army loses repeatedly in its efforts to keep that country together. Until Gettysburg, things had not looked good for the Union’s survival. It is therefore fitting that such a short and solemn speech honoring the battle that saved the Union should have such a profound underlining of optimism and hope that the future of the nation belongs to those who hold our foundational principles close to heart.
President Theodore Roosevelt would reflect on this moment in our history on his own visit to Gettysburg 40 years later, in 1904. Even at his time, he understood the power of President Lincoln’s words and recognized that they would be remembered through the ages, so long as our country remained. Not only this, he recognized the purpose of the war’s ultimate conclusion. Though the majority of this speech is dedicated to honoring those who fought and died to preserve the Union, President Roosevelt shares a sentiment that is, in essence, the very purpose of this essay.
“He is a poor American who, looking at this field, does not feel within himself a deeper reverence for the nation’s past and a higher purpose to make the nation’s future rise level to her past.”
Put plainly, it is the duty of us Americans to recognize the blood shed to preserve liberty, prosperity, and our country. Beyond this, it is our obligation to ensure that this was not all in vain and to carry on that optimism into the future. This was plainly seen in the elegant speakers of the mid 20th century Civil Rights movement.
Lost in a dream
Let’s return to the ‘60s. Given the section header, I’m sure you already know what we will be analyzing next. Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) is still, by far, the most popular Civil Rights leader to ever live in this country, rising to the status of the immortal. He stands tall next to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln as a freedom fighter in the realest sense of the American conscience. It is for the same reason that we remember Lincoln’s address at Gettysburg, we feel the significance of the Declaration of Independence, that we still utter that phrase of MLK’s, “I have a dream.” This is almost certainly intentional on the part of MLK.
“Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.”
Martin Luther King Jr. was a very intellectual speaker who understood the importance of choosing his words properly to appeal to the broadest range of people he could. Here we see MLK draw direct reflection and comparison of his words to that of Abraham Lincoln’s, bringing attention and importance to what he has to say. It is all too fitting that the Lincoln Memorial be right to his back while giving his speech. Although MLK is clear in his explanation that the United States under Jim Crow had not fulfilled its sacred promises of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to Black Americans, he did not fail to provide a positive, optimistic alternative to the status quo. We all know the words:
“I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.”
And so, and so, we understand the implicit significance of his words. We understand that it is the American way to have a dream and that a dream is something worth fighting for. We understand that this is, in essence, the American Dream. We understand that this is not possible when man is limited by oppression, such as the oppression that forced the Puritans to risk everything and found their colony in Massachusetts, or the oppression that led the brave men of the Revolutionary War to risk their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to fight an uncertain battle against the world’s strongest empire, or the oppression of slavery liberated and undone by the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments.
What is more important is that we understand that these promises were made to all in our founding documents. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness do belong to all men, and that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. It was not the case that a promise was not made, it was one that was not kept, but a promise that still could be made good upon. This is what makes Martin Luther King Jr.’s words so powerful here.
“This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.”
Beyond this, Martin Luther King Jr. understood what the other great leaders and speakers understood, being that it is equally important that you provide to the people what that dream looks like for them, how to achieve it, and ensuring them that there is hope. He understood that you must provide the people with a clear vision of what that dream looks like upon its fruition and that it must appear achievable. A suggestion that you are not reaching for the stars, but rather something well within reach that simply requires further effort to grasp.
This is something that is seemingly lost today, as we appear to be struggling to bring it back.
Concession
Some part of the 21st century has left this country scarred and deformed, it is plain as day. We do not possess that same spark of generations past. While there are plenty of men and women who claim to be fighting for a better tomorrow, they seem almost incapable of providing a positive view of the future, or a reverent view of the past. They are all too often bitter and spiteful of our history, rather than optimistic and cheerful about what is to come. This is the nature of what I referred to in my last article – Our Culture Is Apathetic Towards Children – where I expressed that the youth are force fed inherently negative content, distorting and ruining their view of this country and the world at large. Where did this start?
Ever since the end of the ‘60s, we have seen gradual decay of the everyday Americans’ way of life, subversion of cultural norms, and the faith in our institutions that have stood firm since the end of the Civil War slowly eroded out from under us. This chipped away at the psychology of the masses bit by bit. While all seemed civil on the surface, with most Americans getting along fine enough, something was brewing. All this happened from Nixon to Clinton, then, at the turn of the century, the straw broke the camel’s back.
The 2000 election between George Bush and Al Gore was exceedingly contentious, more so than 2020’s election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden (More on this later). It was a wildly convoluted and heavily contested series of court cases and lawsuits from both campaigns over an increasingly slim margin of votes. Ultimately, George Bush would be effectively granted the presidency by the United States Supreme Court in a decision that still remains controversial to this day. Something about this ruling seems to have broken a part of the Democrat Party, starting the gradual party divide we see today.
Over the duration of the scandal, it took little time for prominent political pundits to portray Al Gore as an underdog fighting an unfair system for his chance at the presidency. Conversely, we see at the same time the budding of the “literally Hitler” narrative against George Bush by some of the more radical leftists in the media, a phrase we have become all too familiar with today.
Of course, on September 11th, 2001, the United States experienced the worst attack on our country since World War II. In a sort of twisted irony, this served to dampen the criticism against George Bush and gave him a chance to act as a great unifier and leader in desperate times. For all George Bush’s faults, of which he has a great many, he did fairly well at this. It was not meant to last.
Obama ran a campaign of “hope” and “change,” winning the 2008 election decisively. Over the course of his two terms, all we saw was a continuation of the forever wars, an acceleration of American cultural erosion, inflammation of political tensions, and so on. In 2016, this bubble popped with President Donald Trump. When Trump came down that golden escalator in 2015, he was a prominent and incredibly popular, if not universally loved, American entrepreneur and celebrity. It is hard to fathom this happening today, but before President Trump’s first term, he was on The View 18 times! At first, no one took President Trump’s campaign seriously, but as the Republican primaries progressed, it became all too clear that he was not joking.
Comeback story
Almost as soon as this was made clear, the campaign to stop a Donald Trump presidency took full effect. Multiple women came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct, allegations of racism and other off color remarks were levied, and demonstrations were held to protest the man. His political rival, Hillary Clinton, referred to him as a “threat to democracy.” He was called the now ubiquitous catchphrase of “literally Hitler.” While Trump would lose the popular vote, he won the electoral college, and that was enough. Hillary Clinton would never concede defeat, instead pushing the false narrative that President Trump had colluded with the Russians to rig the outcome of the election. This would be investigated over the course of his first term, but no evidence supported Clinton’s claim.
President Trump’s first term was marred by controversy. He was impeached twice, protested without end for the duration of his four years, repeatedly received push back from Congress, his staffers and appointments, and even in some cases, was lied to by his generals. In 2020, the Covid pandemic hit, causing further political division. That summer, George Floyd died while in police custody leading to a string of Black Lives Matter protests across the country, many of which would devolve into violent riots that resulted in at least 19 directly-linked deaths and somewhere between one to two billion dollars in property damage.
Yet, during President Trump’s first administration, something happened that goes unrecognized by many today. Ignoring the political controversy of the White House and inflamed tensions between liberals and conservatives, the life of the average American was starting to actually improve in a real way for the first time in decades. President Trump’s economy was the best in a long time, but none of this mattered come election time. While the economy may have been good through 2019, it would inevitably tank during the Covid pandemic, granting Joe Biden his turn in the White House.
In hindsight, after the chaotic four years of the first Trump administration, it is clear to see how President Biden could have won. At the time, it felt completely unreal for many conservatives. While President Trump tried his damnedest to improve the quality of life for all Americans, the conservative coalition he represented was smeared with attacks. They were called deplorables, racists, homophobes, Nazis and every other provocative descriptor that the liberal machine could come up with. For the average moderate not plugged into politics enough to understand what they were witnessing, this was just too much to handle, and a misguided desire to “return to normalcy” drove Biden to the presidency.
Like Gore in 2000 and Clinton four years before, Trump would not concede the 2020 election. He too would push claims of voter fraud and conspiracy to rig the 2020 election. The 2000 election was fought in the courts for months. Clinton’s claims of Russian collusion were investigated for years, bearing no fruit. However, Trump’s legal pursuits were unilaterally dismissed by courts without ever hearing the evidence, which President Trump and conservatives alike immediately viewed as atrocious judicial misconduct. The questions of fraud in the 2020 election would never be investigated or answered. Instead, anyone daring to question the 2020 election outcome faced censorship on social media.
On January 6th, 2021, a large demonstration sanctioned by President Trump would occur on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol, protesting what they viewed as an illegitimate certification as they had lost faith in the electoral process. Soon, certain sections of the demonstration would devolve into chaos, with some protestors clashing with Capitol Police and making their way into the building. There are two sides to every story though, just as there are more than two sides to the United States Capitol building. While some may have forced their way into the building on one side, a great many simply were allowed to walk in on the other. Regardless, this demonstration was almost immediately portrayed as a violent riot in which many had died. This is not true. The only person to be killed in the January 6th incident was Ashley Babbitt, who was shot by Capitol Police. Any other deaths linked to January 6th are objectively nothing more than speculation.
This incident would quickly be picked up on by the media as the “darkest day in American history,” decrying it as worse than 9/11, Pearl Harbor, and a blemish of which we will never be cleansed. President Biden’s justice department rounded up, prosecuted and imprisoned thousands of protestors who were present at the Capitol, many of whom were given years of prison time for nothing more than petty trespass charges. This is a story for another time. Shortly after this, it was thought President Trump’s political career would be over.
President Biden’s term was not nearly as politically tumultuous as Trump’s in terms of protest, riot and the like, but it saw sharp inflation and economic decline, the break out of several new wars while simultaneously and disastrously pulling out of Afghanistan, and unprecedented political moves in vaccine mandates and political prosecutions. It also saw an increase of violent cartel activity with a wide open southern border, and an increase of illegal immigrants with estimates ranging from 12-20 million people. Looming over all of this were significant questions about Biden’s cognitive abilities.
In 2022, Donald Trump announced that he would once again be taking his chance at returning to the White House. Almost as soon as he announced, Donald Trump had criminal charges levied against him. And then again, and again, and again. From Georgia, to New York, to the federal government, the entire United States Judicial system was thrown at Trump. Every single time, his support grew. The campaign continued successfully, with everything thrown at him only serving to drive more people to his side. On July 13th, 2024, during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, President Trump would be grazed by a bullet. Had he not turned his head at the exact moment he did, the bullet would have passed through the center of his skull, almost certainly claiming his life.
At this exact moment, Donald Trump secured the 2024 election. It became very clear what was happening in this country, and on November 5th, 2024, Donald Trump would secure both the electoral college and popular vote, receiving more votes for president than he had in both 2016 and 2020. How did this happen? Why was Trump shot, and why did he ever win in the first place?
A glimmer of freedom
“My God Dino, I thought this was an essay about optimism?! What the hell does this have to do with anything you were originally talking about?!”
President Donald Trump is hated by the media and the institutional powers at be because he has correctly identified the problem in the United States today. Simply put, the middle class is being abolished. What’s more, he has provided an effective and attractive solution to this problem in a way that inherently resonates with Americans who hold the same reverence for America that Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. were all able to so elegantly describe.
President Trump was able to relate to the American people in the most basic way possible… He refused to use a teleprompter at his campaign rallies. Instead, he would tell stories, crack jokes, and sprinkle his policy solutions in the mix. Standing in the crowd, it takes you out of the turmoil of life, and Trump provides a future that actually does not sound so bad. President Trump was able to effectively identify the issues hurting everyday Americans, such as illegal immigration, inflation, and the likes in a way that had comedic relief at the end and would provide a solution to these problems that the average person could digest and understand. Then, when the rally was concluding, he would leave a message that everyone could resonate with:
“Together we will make America powerful again. We will make America wealthy again. We will make America healthy again. We will make America strong again. We will make America proud again. We will make America safe again. And we will make America great again.”
Despite the constant attacks from the media, despite the entire United States Judicial system doing their best to strip him of everything, despite coming within inches of losing his life, President Trump stood tall, looked the American people in the eyes, smiled, joked, laughed, and talked to them in a way that said, “There is still hope for us.” This is why Trump received a historic victory in 2024, and why it seems today the political machine in this country is incapable of a rational response. What had slowly been eroding American values, chipping away at the quality of life of us all, and selling away any future hopes, is on the decline. This is cause for optimism.
No, the political divide has not gone away, nor will it for quite some time. Many of the liberals today are confused as to how this could have come to pass. They are bitter and angry at this nation, and they will need time to come to terms. Some never will. Welcome those who see the light and come to understand that our future is on the line. They are Americans too, and there is plenty of room for them in this great nation.
Perhaps this is too much to ask for, but I remain optimistic.
This is part two of an ongoing series on American culture, its foundational principles, and where they’ve gone today.
To the liberal reader, though you may not agree with the latter half of my assessment, I hope you can better understand the conservative perspective and what makes Trump such an alluring figure a little better. This is the only way to heal the wound at the heart of America today.
To the conservative reader, if you enjoyed this essay and want to see more content like this, give me a follow for free and drop a comment letting me know your thoughts.