The Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne writes about the importance of hope to the well-being of a society. He observes that “when despair becomes a habit it can further entrench the social and political problems that prompted pessimism in the first place.” And “democracy cannot work if citizens are demoralized and demobilized by despair.”

Dionne notices that despair seems prevalent in America today. And he contends, correctly I think, that it’s a barrier to reviving our labor markets and productivity, and a threat to our well-being, longevity, families, and communities.

What a come-down, Dionne implies, from the “hope and change” rallying cry of Barack Obama, whom Dionne calls “the bard of hope.”