I don’t want to get too hopeful about the angry talk and anti-government rhetoric out there. I don’t want to believe that maybe, just maybe, there’s some honest outrage against the overlords from both parties, and that it’s not just about a single issue here or single personality there. I don’t want to get too excited when I hear about politicians fearstricken when they’re reminded by respectable people who do productive things with their lives –”Hey assface, that’s not your job, and come to think of it, neither is a lot of this other stuff you people have been doing for five, 10, hell, 50 years.”

I don’t want to get all hopeful when I hear people talk about big ideas like liberty and republicanism instead of policy minutia, election pragmatism, and party affiliations.

I don’t want to get too hopeful because I don’t want to be disappointed again.

You get older, you take your lumps, and you get wiser. You settle in and settle down. Trade pollyanna optimism and idealism for knee-jerk cynicism. Surrender to…well, surrender.

Because look, I know what I believe and what I’d like to see is outside the acceptable for civilized and polite folks. Stuff like how I believe that freedom means freedom to, not freedom from. That government should fear the people. That you can’t govern an honest man.

So I know it’s not like things are swinging directly over to my lonely 18th Century corner of the map, to create a bad time-space metaphor.

And age, experience and a pretty thorough study of history tell me all this rowdiness lately probably isn’t even going to be a solid, lasting lean in my direction. Not even a bit.

But you know what? I can’t help it. I am a little hopeful. Why not?

How else do you live? All dead inside like an old Vegas hooker or third-term senator? No. Just…No.

A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head on, or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away.

Heard that as a kid and believed it growing up. And knowing the alternative — yeah, I’ll choose to stick with it.

This latest spark? Maybe it will fizzle out, sell out, or burn out. And maybe I’ll get burned again.

So what? I think I’m going to be a little hopeful. I’m not near as cynical as I was back when I was old.