30 Dec 2018 Am I Optimistic About The Future?

Am I Optimistic About The Future?

I know a lot of my postings are negative in tone, especially the ones about President Trump and Congress.  However, those are short-term in nature.  A new President will get elected at some point and Congress will swing back and forth between the two parties in power.  The overall institutions for the country are strong and are resilient.  Do we have big issues, absolutely?  There is a growing chasm between young and old, with young being under 35 and old over 55.  Both have large numbers to impact elections.  Each have different views (in a global sense) on where the country should go. This is ok and healthy for a democracy. But they should fix what they agree on and not just oppose each other.

It will be interesting to see how the country evolves when the white population is less than 50% and become a majority minority.  For the young crowd I don’t think this will be the big issue as they are much more integrated then the older crowd was. Slowly but surely our institutions will start to reflect the changing demographics.

On the world stage, the biggest challenge will be to see if Russia and China transition to democratic rule vice authoritative rule. If each stay on their current path, then there is a greater chance for conflict due to the ruthless nature of dictatorships. There is a positive in that both of their economies depend on the rest of the world. This is especially true for China. The United States and China are deeply inter-wined economically. Both depend on the other to maintain their countries standing.

The one big thing that tempers my optimism is that of the Islamic faith. Islam is very similar to where the Catholic Church was 500 years ago. Islam needs to have their reformation. Also, Sunni Islam and Shia Islam have to settle their centuries old disagreements. I doubt in my lifetime I will see these changes. But as each country modernizes the people will not want to live the austere life as dictated by the radical side of Islam.

I am optimistic about the future. Every generation produces great leaders who transform the world for the better. The future is always bright if you demand accountability from your politicians and you go out and vote.