I don't go to parties very much anymore. But tonight, a group I'm involved with was having a book party to celebrate the first two books in our new series.
We're a bunch of scary leftists, probably even some bona fide socialists, maybe even some communists and anarchists!
The energy was very different than the last time we'd gathered, which was before the election. The feel tonight was one of invigorated spirit. Hope, even. But textured with anxiety over the rapidly collapsing economy and a fervid impatience for the arrival of January 20th.
A few of us were talking about the financial situation and the feeling of impotence, with Barack just 59 days away from office, and things rapidly headed to hell in a handbasket.
One of my co-conspirators, a writer for The Nation, told us that he is on a listserv for journalists and today someone sent around a post saying: Stop Me From Driving Off a Cliff. It was figurative, but expressive of the anxiety caused by these dark economic times. "Stop Me From Driving Off a Cliff!" it said, "Talk me down, I'm thinking of hoarding cans of tuna and getting a gun." Of course, a flurry of replies came with humorous, ever-escalating, dire scenarios. My co-conspirator is a good storyteller, and we laughed at his report.
He paused for a beat. The punchline was coming.
"And then, Paul Krugman posted something. One line."
You all are being too optimistic.
We laughed. Maybe a different kind of laugh.
And then we all fell silent.