I'm Not Optimistic About America, But I'm Definitely Hopeful

Hope comes from being reminded of our own power to make change

I had the pleasure of visiting Aspen last week to participate in the Aspen Institute’s McCloskey Speaker Series. Robert Putnam, (with whom I co-authored The Upswing) and I had an inspiring conversation with Dan Porterfield, President of the Institute.

With our book tour having been entirely virtual so far it was a treat to do our first in-person event and actually meet readers and sign books!

I love speaking about The Upswing, because invariably our audiences respond with a sort of dismayed pleasure at how hopeful our message is. We are often told it’s the most hopeful narrative about America they’ve heard in years.

As the Rabbi Jonathan Sachs taught, “Optimism and hope are not the same. Optimism is the belief that the world is changing for the better; hope is the belief that, together, we can make the world better.” (To Heal a Fractured World: The Ethics of Responsibility).

In my opinion, America is definitely not changing for the better—at least not yet. But I believe it can, if enough of us choose to make it so. With a new wave of Covid closures looming, we are reminded that what we choose, what we do, and how we show up—even in the smallest of ways—matters. And therein lies the hope.

The hope Bob Putnam and I share is the belief that everyday Americans—yup, you and me—can reclaim our nation’s promise through the determined exercise of individual and collective agency. Using our agency to enact what Alexis de Tocqueville called “self-interest, rightly understood,” we come to understand how doing what is best of all of us is, in the end, what is best for each of us.

If you’re short on hope right now, take an hour and listen to some lessons of history. America has been in a mess just as dark and complex as the one we’re in now. But we righted the ship once before—and we can do it again.

Which direction we will go—whether its deeper into disagreement and despair, or back toward compromise and engaged problem-solving—depends on you and me. And our ability to act starts a lot closer to home than we might think.