Forty-four percent of respondents believe America's best days are still to come, according to a poll just released. The pessimists, who think the good days have passed, represent 41 percent of the surveyed group.
Optimism about the country's future appears tied to individual economic status — voters who make less than $40,000 a year are more likely to say the best days are behind the US. Those making more think the future will be better than the past and present.
The beginning of the 21st century has been tough for America — terrorists brought down the Twin Towers, the US itself launched a war without UN approval, added $42 trillion to the debt, and saw a surplus morph into a deficit of half a trillion dollars. Even though hard times could make you want to kiss the best days goodbye, perhaps this adversity will inspire America to reinvent itself for modern, and better, days.
) and feel that the best days are behind
us. I do feel, however, that good days will return -- just not for quite some time.
I think most people will tell you it just depends on who wins the elections this year, and all the elections after that. Of course the preferred winner will differ.
Of course I think we could be great again, if we'd just return to the values and rules of the Constitution. As long as I'm young and starry-eyed, I'll try to be optimistic about that.
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