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 Blind Optimism and the Financial Fleecing of America
by Kathy Sanborn There are three distinct types of people: optimists, pessimists, and realists. Optimists tend to look on the bright side of things, and trust that all will work out in the end. Pessimists focus on the negative, believing that evil abounds and the world will explode in the year 2012. Most of us fall somewhere in between, straddling the line between optimism and negativity: we call ourselves realists. Remember the old “glass half-empty or half-full” idea? Realists see the glass as both partly empty and partly full. Realists don’t fall into the trap of the “either/or” dichotomy. We know that often there is a third, perhaps unexplored, option. Decades ago, when the New Age movement began, its followers were taught to ignore anything negative and to focus only on the positive. To be realistic was to be pessimistic, or so they thought. In theory, the practice sounded helpful, but ignoring the negative meant individuals simply refused to see what was often right in front of their noses. Otherwise bright individuals went around saying, “If I’m not here one day, then you’ll know I was lifted up to the sky.” The New Age movement suckered a lot of people into turning off their rational minds and believing any kooky theory that came out. Realism went out the window, to be replaced by a sort of irrational optimism – where the real world was just a sham and the only reality that counted was the unseen. When people start believing in an invisible world to the complete exclusion of the material one, the republic has trouble on its hands, and that’s just the way the powers that be like it. When you don’t pay attention to what your leaders are doing in the real world, they will, like magicians, use sleight of hand on you. Take the presidential contest between so-called opposing candidates Obama and McCain. In their debates, they made it clear that they both wanted to continue illegal wars, just on different terms. They both supported the initial bailout package as well. The only major difference between the candidates seemed to be the mantra of “change” that Obama employed like a broken record. A realist would have seen behind the curtain: Obama’s ”change” was merely a chanted slogan with no meat behind it. The irrational optimist, on the other hand, saw the word “change,” and visualized whatever he wanted to see, including new jobs, wealth, and healthcare for all – in other words, a complete fantasy. After he won the election, Obama indicated that he would expand the number of troops in Afghanistan and continue to bailout the bankers with more of the taxpayers’ money. Obama also selected cabinet members from previous administrations, in effect, utilizing a revolving door of same-old, same-old people and policies. This is change? If you were paying attention, you already knew the answer to that one. Yet, many mind-numbed Americans still believe that the new president will be a savior of some kind, clearly ignoring the evidence that is right in front of their eyes. This is called blind optimism. With heads in the sand, countless Americans fail to see that both sides of the power coin – Democrats and Republicans – are one and the same. The new administration continues the long-term agenda of the ruling elites – banks and corporations – who ultimately call the shots. I learned long ago that it doesn’t pay to judge a person by what he says, but by what he does. By watching the behavior of the president and members of Congress, one can understand their priorities, and clearly they are not with the rank and file. By bailing out banks that were “too big to fail,” those holding the reins of power demonstrated that the regular Joe Public could go to the devil for all they cared. Ballooning mortgage payments combined with plummeting house values and skyrocketing food costs have placed the average American citizen in a vise that he can no longer ignore. Anger is mounting as more Americans are waking up to the reality that their wealth is being siphoned and their assets are being looted. One enraged American, fed up with the duplicity of government and corporations, has posted an Internet video (see here), ranting about the bank bailouts that are angering him enough to stop paying on his mortgage: “We’re being fed propaganda. Why the hell should I mail out my mortgage payment to Citibank, when Citibank got billions of dollars in bailouts? These guys fail and they get rescued. I’m sick of this crap. My family, friends, and everybody watching this video are getting financially fleeced.” Without a doubt, the smoke has cleared from that worried American’s eyes. If you have concerns about where this country is headed, you are not being “negative.” Your eyes are open, and your brain cells are functioning. Now, if we could get the rest of the people to take off their rose-colored glasses for a while, we might be getting somewhere. After all, our economic well-being depends on it. © 2009 Kathy Sanborn Kathy Sanborn is an author, journalist, and recording artist with a new CD, Peaceful Sounds, now a top seller on CDBaby. Listen to clips of her songs, including “Forever War,” and buy the album now at http://cdbaby.com/cd/kathysanborn.
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