You would not know it from the headlines, or the polarized nature of our politics, but America today is a happier place than it was a year ago.
President Donald Trump will not receive credit for that, but it is largely his doing, and it is important to understand why, especially if the political pendulum has begun to swing in the opposite direction, risking a return to the politics of divide-and-rule that Barack Obama brought from Chicago to the Oval Office.
The signs of healing are everywhere, if you know where to look.
Starting with the obvious: the economy is roaring. It is true that the recovery began under Barack Obama. But it was far weaker than it should have been, because Obama and the Democrats insisted on regulating everything in sight. In fact, it was only after the Tea Party helped Republicans take the House in 2010 that the recovery began in earnest, because it stopped Obama from doing more.
Moreover, throughout the recovery — the slowest in the post-Second World War era — President Obama focused on inequality, and the need to, as he once put it, “spread the wealth around.” He demonized the rich and the successful — even as he golfed with them, vacationed in their holiday homes, and cashed their maxed-out political donations.
Enter Trump, who talks up the economy and talks constantly about success — his own, and that of the nation as a whole. Much of it is hyperbole, but it excites what John Maynard Keynes called the “animal spirits” that drive an economy. Consumer confidence is soaring, the stock market keeps hitting record highs, and people are starting to believe in the future again. In times of plenty, divisions are destined to fade, and they already seem to be doing so.
full story at http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/12/15/blue-state-blues-america-happier-place/