A lot of American leftist energy is baldly and unabashedly driven by intense envy of peaceful countries where governments give you nice things... and do anything at all for the working class. You can turn that envy so quickly into openhearted optimism if you just meet it with practical conviction: it's possible, it's real, it's within our grasp. Our longing isn't foolish. We can be that kind of place, too.

Laura Michet