I will start things off by referring to two of my favorite political writers, who are examples of the theme of this post.

First, our own Cassandra with her excellent run-down of yet another good election night for Democrats. Then, Molly Jong-Fast with her piece in Vanity Fair, “The Anxiety Election,” which coincidentally in the lede paragraph mentions people calling her a Cassandra. A fun coincidence, no?

Anyway, my theme here is how my own little personal philosophy applies to our current political world. And that philosophy is about not being an optimist, nor a pessimist, but instead, a realist.

Cassandra provides a nice, even-handed view of what Democrats should take away from last night’s election wins in the Pennsylvania state house and the seat formerly held by Big Stinkin’ Lyin’ Liar George Santos. It is a refreshing break from the hot takes that are rushing around right now, including those that inexplicitly are running the Bad for Biden playbook after a Democratic win. Jong-Fast’s opinion piece outlines how we are in anxiety-producing times, but we can’t overreact to every last poll or piece of bad news like the Hur report.

The old saying, do you see the glass as half-full (an optimist) or half-empty (a pessimist) to me is a bit silly. I see a half a glass.

Optimism is not always good. There is a concept in project management known as optimism bias. This means that an estimate of how long a project will take often is underestimated, leading to a project coming in behind schedule.

Optimism can lead to complacency. “Oh, it’ll work out just fine” is not really a plan, nor should it be. Sometimes, bad things really might happen or are in the process of happening, and magical thinking never fixes it.

Optimism can make things a lot worse for a person mentally if the sunny outlook does not work out. Oh, the many lectures I received about how I did not understand that a country like America could never possibly elect Trump, and I witnessed some of those very same people walking around like distressed zombies on Election Night and shortly thereafter. In addition, I have also found that optimists can turn into Screeching Human Rage Monsters if the sunny facade can no longer be held in the face of reality.

On the flip side, pessimism can make people feel helpless. FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) can make someone assume the fetal position and whimper in the corner instead of fighting. “What’s the use” never fixed anything, either.

Pessimism can cause self-destructive behavior instead of constructive action. Lashing out due to not thinking there is any hope can make things much worse. This includes doing things like refusing to vote because “it doesn’t matter.”

Pessimism can make one miss the good things because they are so focused on the bad. In the first two years of Biden’s presidency, before the worst children took over the school, he signed multiple bills to address climate change, revive our dying semiconductor industry, and fix our infrastructure, as opposed to Trump’s Infrastructure Week when nothing happened.

Are there reasons to feel anxious? You bet there are. “Oh, I’m sure Trump won’t be as bad as those liberal bedwetters think he will be” was not a magical incantation to protect against the fact that Trump was indeed as bad as those liberals thought he’d be. And there are many, many indications that he will be even worse in a Trump presidency sequel.

Are there reasons to feel a little encouraged? Again, you bet there are. We have seen repeated elections since 2018 where we were told going into them that they would be Bad for Dems, but Democrats have actually done pretty well, right? It is not like Trump is up by 15 points in the polls. And about those polls, not all of them show a Trump lead, and polls are nothing more than snapshots in time, not a prediction. Polling has had issues in recent years.

The realist, the person who sees a half a glass of beverage, knows both that we have a real, serious, even existential challenge ahead, and that we also can win. The realist knows that there are low-information voters who do not have a good idea of what is going on so they might not support Biden, and that there are almost nine months to go before the election where Trump can remind them of how dangerous he is. The realist knows anything can happen, good or bad, in those almost nine months.

As the kids say, shit’s real right now. If Trump wins, America as we know might not survive it. But there’s no reason to think beyond any shadow of a doubt that he will win. An urgent, yet balanced and steady-handed, approach is necessary.

And we can do it.

The last word goes to Queen and David Bowie.