RE: Power of the People

These days you don't have to look very far to find desperation, depair, pessimism and discontent. Nearly all the mediums used by people today as a means of staying informed are chocked full of this stuff. Newspapers, TV, radio, podcasts, internet, the list goes on and on.

Occassionally, and very occassionally (on the last pages or back cover), there is some positive news. And even this news sometimes is reported in an unfavorable light. Yes, our economy is improving but more and more people are out of work. Yes, some of our soldiers are coming home BUT far too many have been lost in battle. Accurate or inaccurate, these stories are depressing.

Why have we created such a tendency to be so negative? I know the whole "that's what people want, that's what they buy" argument and I think that's a bunch of BS. Whose heart isn't warmed and whose mood isn't improved by hearing a great story about the tremendous relief support that Americans are providing to Haiti? Or a story about personal or professional strife that has been overcome by Lance Armstrong, Anne Frank, Michael Oher, Erin Brockovich or even Joe Public?

I'm a sucker for any story that has a happy ending! Aren't you?

Brad's post about the health care bill is certainly more complicated than that. After all, which outcome you would consider to be the "happy ending" depends largely on whether you think the health care bill is a good thing or not. I'm not going there. But I do appreciate the positive spin Brad offers regardless of whether you wanted the thing to pass or not.

The positive spin on it, that it was "the people's vote" not a biased or non-majority partisan vote that ultimately will determine the outcome of such an impactful piece of legislation, is the happy ending I see from his comments. I for one certainly don't want to feel that the greatest and most impactful legislation that the US has ever created and passed only occurred because of the minority view. That makes me proud of our profoundly democratic, imperfect and inefficient system. See, I've found the negative side of the story!

But Brad's blog goes to show that there is both a positive and negative view that can be taken to any news. If media (and the public at large) would seek out the positive side of each story, instead of just the negatives, we could see overwhelming positive implications.

And public opinion is one of the most powerful economic impacts of our new world economy. So if everyone feels bullish, we act bullish. When we act bullish and positively, positive things begin to happen. That's the Power of the People. The system works.

Thanks Brad. I'm buying!