Making the world safe for idealism

In addition to all his other breakthroughs this past week, Barack Obama may have made the world safe again for idealists.

We haven’t elected all that many idealists, and not all were successful-Jefferson, Lincoln, both Roosevelts, Wilson, Kennedy and Carter. The rest have been realists.

But our country was founded by idealists-at least some of them. A realist could never pen the words, “We the people, in order to form a more perfect union …”

If it wasn’t obvious already from his speeches and books, you could tell Obama was an idealist after he graduated from Columbia University, because he spent several years as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago. Only idealists become community organizers.

The thing about community organizing is that it makes idealism practical, which is good grounding for idealists so they don’t get too flighty and removed from the real world. It was probably the best thing Obama could have done and one of the main reasons he is president-elect today.

We haven’t heard much about idealism in the last 30 years. When someone identifies you as an idealist, they usually do so as if diagnosing a terminal illness-with a mixture of condescension and pity.

I know because I’m an idealist.

Someone here at work diagnosed me recently. I had almost forgotten. I felt momentarily “outed,” and had to stifle the impulse to make an excuse. I’m sorry. With all the election excitement, my guard was down and I got carried away.

But after Nov. 4, I no longer feel so alone, so out of the mainstream. I am an idealist. There, I can say it again. Feels good. You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. Grant Park was lousy with them a week ago Tuesday.

On Election Day, one of the first things I saw was a U.S. Cellular ad on the side of a Pace bus: “Believe in something better.” That pretty much sums up idealists. We believe in something better-and never quite give up on making it a reality.

Most people, I suspect, are dormant idealists. It’s a defense mechanism. Many believe idealism is the province of the young-a developmental stage that most grow out of as soon as life starts roughing us up. For protection, we don the wooly overcoat of “realism.” Some become cynics, which is basically an embittered idealist.

But a few of us struggle on. Often it feels more like an affliction. Idealists spend much of their lives disappointed. We spend long years wandering in the wilderness. When we’re frustrated, we scold. We tend to express ourselves passionately in polite company, which causes general horror.

Somehow I survived to the age of 56 without letting go of my ideals. Like Jason Robard’s character in the film, A Thousand Clowns, I don’t seem to have “the gift of surrender.”

I remember one time long ago, a conservative friend telling me, after a particularly passionate display of my idealism, “you still don’t realize that we live in a fallen world.” I realize it, I told him. I just can’t accept it. As Oscar Wilde put it, we’re all in the gutter, but some of us keep looking at the stars.

Is it possible to survive a lifetime as an idealist? Consider the late, great Studs Terkel, who lived passionately, idealistically, and, I hope, happily until the age of 96. He would have loved this election. He missed it by three days.

That’s life, realists would say.

Conservatives, I’ve found, take great pride in their realism, which is why conservative presidents almost never take the country anywhere. All our progress comes from the idealists.

And now we’ve elected one. Judging by the reactions and the resounding release of pure joy, a lot of dormant idealists have awakened. I’m guessing a few cynics, while extremely cautious, have softened.

The hard-core realists? Well, they may insist on seeing some results first, but there’s plenty of room on this bandwagon if and when.

All it takes is being willing to believe in something better.

Yes, we can.