Smile! Things are not as bad as they seem

It's the strangest out-of-body experience I ever had. About 10 years ago, while browsing in a San Francisco bookstore, I picked up a book of quotations. Routinely turning to the index, I was startled to find a quote – from me! "Things aren't as bad as they seem," I had supposedly said at one time, "they're worse."

To tell the truth, I have no recollection, then or now, of actually uttering that profound bit of wisdom, but I thought of it again this week amid all the negativity that seems to have gripped the American people by the neck. According to the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll, Republicans are poised to take control of the U.S. Senate.

Why would Americans decide to change leadership in the Senate? Here's how the Post explains it: "Driving attitudes is a pervasive sense of a nation in trouble. Overwhelming majorities say the country is badly off track and give the economy negative ratings." They go on to cite "multiple crises confronting the country," including Ebola, ISIS and a sluggish economy.

A Rasmussen Report this week reflected the same level of despair. In its telephone survey, only 26 percent of likely voters think the country's heading in the right direction, while 66 percent believe the nation's headed down the wrong track. Not surprisingly, the difference breaks down along party lines. Forty-eight percent of Democrats saying the country's headed in the right direction; 89 percent of Republicans think we're on the wrong track, no doubt because they don't like the engineer now driving the train.

Honestly, I have no idea what's going to happen to control of the Senate on Nov. 4, and anybody who tells you they do is lying through his teeth. At this point, a Princeton University survey shows that seven Senate races are inside the margin of error of 3 points and therefore impossible to call. But I do know this: If I were asked to provide a quote today, I'd say just the opposite – "Things aren't as bad as they seem, they're a whole lot better."

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Seriously, what's with all this pessimism? Let's start with Ebola. Yes, there's a lot to worry about – if you live in West Africa. But not if you live in the United States, where we have only ONE case of Ebola for 320 million people. The two nurses who contracted the disease after treating Thomas Eric Duncan have been cured. No other health workers have been infected. Nor were any of the friends and family Mr. Duncan hung out with in Dallas. No matter what Chris Christie and other publicity-hungry politicians claim, there's no need for panic.

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How about ISIS? Yes, it's still a mess in the Middle East, and U.S. forces are still smack dab in the middle of it. But there's a big difference between limited airstrikes against ISIS forces in Iraq and Syria today and yesterday's two full-scale wars in Iraq and Afghanistan at the same time. For the first time, Arab nations have actually joined a coalition against Islamic extremists, and we're close to reaching an agreement on nuclear weapons with Iran. All of which is good news, not bad.

There's a lot of good news on the economic front, too. Do people forget how bad it was just six years ago when the entire economy collapsed? While the recovery's been slow, it's been a steady uphill climb. In November 2008, the Dow Jones average sank from a high of 13,400 to a low of 7,500. This week, it set a new high of more than 17,000. Housing sales are up. So are new car sales. Since February 2008, the nation has enjoyed 55 straight months of positive private-sector job growth, and the economy has added 10.3 million new jobs. The economy grew better than expected, 3.5 percent, in the third quarter of 2014, after a robust 4.6 percent growth in the second quarter.

Granted, a rising tide has not lifted all boats. There are still too many Americans out of work. Wages have remained stagnant for many middle-class workers. Fifteen percent of homeowners are still underwater. But, overall, as a country, we are still far better off than we were just a few years ago.

All this gloom and doom is nothing but a Republican narrative the media have swallowed and spread widely. Am I the only one who feels good about America?