In this video essay I discuss liberal optimism in the wake of the 2024 U.S. Democratic National Convention.

Liberal Optimism is the main rhetorical device of the Democratic party, as opposed to Republican declinism or doomsday-ism.

Instead of Make America Great Again, which implies the U.S. isn’t where it should be, Harris and Walz have ‘when we fight we win’, and pride themselves on this belief that the U.S. is worth fighting for, and that we can make this country work for everyone.

And though liberal optimism is good to have in theory, as optimism is just as good a motivator as conservative fear mongering, it’s hard to really get behind that under a two party system, where your enemy can undo everything you worked to accomplish every four years.

How can we have hope in progressing our country, when people who have the exact opposite beliefs can ruin it?

How can we support a party and politicians like Kamala Harris, who say they’re on the left and the opposite of Trump, when they’re just as militaristic and nationalistic as he is?

How have we reached a point in political history where both parties are centering their platforms and hinging their campaigns on this one freaking guy instead of real issues?

In the end, two party politics will lead us nowhere, and neither will liberals and their optimism or republicans and their declinism.

Without more parties being able to flesh out the ideologies of a nation, and as long as the republicans keep pushing further right with the liberals riding happily along with them, there just isn’t anything ‘left’ in America.

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Timestamps:
Intro 0:00
Part 1: Republican Declinism, Liberals vs. Leftists, and The Liberal Mind
Part 2: Liberal Optimism
Conclusion

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