The Optimistic American

Idealists are the Changing the World

Join Dr. Bashah and Paul Johnson as they unearth the origins of idealism. The discussion begins with ancient philosophers describing the power of idealism. Idealism is a common trait of CEOs who create new and innovative products, our founders who used idealism to form a more perfect Union, and the secrets on how you can use idealism to create a better you.
 
Imagine this: a life full of possibilities and optimism.  One where you can find meaning, joy, love.  A life where you find a better you, and create a better world in the process.  This is not fantasy, this is a choice. 
 
This is the 7th podcast by Dr. Bashah and Paul Johnson regarding building a life of meaning and agency. The 7 dialogues are designed to help you structure a life of meaning, prosperity and opportunity.

The Power of the Individual

In an age when Americans seem to be divided, Paul Johnson and Dr. Basha, focus on the important idea that, “It’s we, not me.” Service and belonging are connected! They help answer the question, “with all the things I have going on, with everyone else seemingly looking out for themselves, why should I focus on giving anything back? What is it for me?” 
 
They examine what makes being an American special, and why owning who we are, being proud of our past, and giving back is a key part of your path to owning your own agency. The discussion starts with why the wealth and prosperity in the USA is second to none, then it goes to the individual vs the collective.
 
The power created when our founders decided to break from the monarchy and to create a “more perfect union”, not promising to create a Utopia, but instead to prioritize the individual. This results in the benefit to the greater good over time.
 
Individuals have the innate ability to determine their own destiny, however, so many Individuals put the collective over their own interest. Fire fighters, police officers, teachers, people who serve in our military, and ordinary people, who struggle to pay their bills, keep their kids in schools, but who work hard to make ends meet. Lastly, the entrepreneurs who test the standards, who challenge the status quo, who push the thinking to cure cancer, extend human life, and create cars that drive themselves.
 
The idea of self made men is a myth.  No one has made it alone. How do we repay these great debts? By being kind to other Americans! We pay it back through service in our jobs, to our friends, families, to our customers.

Why Nations Fail - James A. Robinson

This episode explains why gut-wrenching poverty exists, which leaves 1.29 billion people in the developing world struggling to live on less than $1.25 a day.  And in what could be a depressing subject, Professor James Robinson, gives a very hopeful, ambitious prognosis on how the US is leading the world moving forward the human condition. 
 
The interview is based on the two internationally acclaimed, masterpiece books, “Why Nations Fail” and “The Narrow Corridor,” written by him and MIT Professor, Daron Acemoglu, both widely respected development scholars.  The books start with how, even in today’s economic climate, the average American is seven times as prosperous as the average Mexican, 10 times as prosperous as the average Peruvian, about 20 times as prosperous as the average inhabitant of sub-Saharan Africa and about 40 times as prosperous as the average citizen of such particularly desperate African countries as Mali, Ethiopia and Sierra Leone. 
 
What explains such wild disparities?  The books take you on a journey, with nations today, and throughout history, showing not only why Nations Fail, but why they prosper.  A journey based on facts and data. The interview gives a wonderful recap of the basic conditions for why we are so successful and what we need to do to stay successful. 
 
Professor Robinson argues that when you combine rotten regimes, exploitative elites, “vampire capitalists” and self-serving institutions with frail, decentralized states, you have something close to a prescription for poverty, conflict and even outright failure. “Nations fail,” the authors write, “when they have extractive economic institutions, supported by extractive political institutions that impede and even block economic growth.”
 
This hopeful interview, by experts who have studied most major economies on the planet, and a number that are long gone, give Americans reasons to be grateful, and other nations the information regarding the stuff that can make them prosperous.
 
To learn more about Why Nations Fail, find it on Amazon today!
 
We are The Optimistic American, and we are in the business of promoting what is going right in our country. Every day, there is tremendous progress being made in America — across technology, public policy, science and medicine, and much more — that will set current and future generations up for success. Our goal is to highlight these advancements and tilt the scale of news and information from pessimism towards optimism. This episode reflects the best themes of The Optimistic American, that our best days lie ahead.

The Truth of Love and Loneliness

Join Dr. Bashah and Paul Johnson, in this 5th of 7 episodes regarding addictive ideologies and how love and loneliness affect your sense of agency. How finding optimism can help you see the world clearly, and give you the ability to benefit from its opportunities. 
 
This episode begins with a discussion of how even very successful people can find themselves alone and driven by the real need to be connected to others. Paul and Dr. Bashah, discusses a current event regarding Elon Musk and his father, and how a  lack of parental love and connection can play a role in what drives us and finding our sense of meaning.
 
The episode helps the listener better understand love, and the genesis of the concept and word.  A prior episode focused on meaning over happiness, outlined how love is one of the 3 areas where we find meaning. Love is so important to the concept of meaning, that this episode further expands our understanding of the differing types of love. Lessons on romance, family and friends, and even love for people you don’t know, helps provide the listener with insight and mindset necessary for love and meaning. 
 
We hope if you enjoy the episode you will share this with others and like, follow, or subscribe to the podcast so we can continue our work.

In Defense of The American Free Market - Robert Robb

Robert Robb & Paul Johnson discuss Communism, Socialism and benefits of American Capitalism. The discussion covers how American Capitalism has done more to improve the quality of life and improve the human condition than any other system in the history of the world.   If you hate capitalism, you might want to skip this one, but if you are open to the idea that free markets have actually made the world better, there is much to learn here. 
 
The discussion begins with Robbs recent articles, regarding Kyrsten Sinema, a United States Senator from Arizona, one of the few pro business senators left in either party, and how her revisions to the draconian tax increases may have saved the country from a deep recession.  The discussion is a full throated defense of prioritizing the individual above the collective and also covers economic theory, time both presenters spent in communist countries, and predictions of the future of capitalism.
 
The Wall Street Journal once called Robb the “dean of Arizona political journalists.” He has been published by the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today, RealClearPolitics.com, and other Gannett newspapers across the country. In 2000, Robb was a media fellow with the Hoover Institution. In 2009, he was awarded a fellowship for study in Japan by the Foreign Press Center Japan. Robb has been a guest on PBS’s The NewsHour, MSNBC, BBC Worldwide, CNN’s American Morning, C-Span, and several shows on Fox News. Robb served as a judge for the Pulitzer Prize in 2013 and 2014. In 2015, he placed second in the Bastiat Prize, an international competition for economic writing sponsored by the Reason Foundation.
 
Robert Robb writes about politics and public policy at the links below:
 
robertrobb.com 
robertrobb.substack.com 
 
We are The Optimistic American, and we are in the business of promoting what is going right in our country. Every day, there is tremendous progress being made in America — across technology, public policy, science and medicine, and much more — that will set current and future generations up for success. Our goal is to highlight these advancements and tilt the scale of news and information from pessimism towards optimism.
 
This interview reflects the best themes of The Optimistic American, that our best days lie ahead.
 
Learn more about The Optimistic American by checking out our website! https://www.optimisticamerican.com

Hey! Small business owner, this is for you. - Mike Michalowicz

Do you feel overwhelmed? Are you working so hard you are missing out on life andopportunities? Are you experiencing financial struggle? Do you feel isolated? Are youfrustrated that you can't fix your business? Have you fallen short of the expectations you set foryourself? It's hard to grow a business when the economy is working against you.
Mike Michalowicz is one of the most prolific writers for struggling entrepreneurs who need toregain their sense of agency. He is the author of seven business books published by PenguinRandom House, including Get Different, Profit First, and Clockwork, and the Pumpkin Plan andis the former host of the "Business Rescue" segment for MSNBC's Your Business. He waspreviously the small business columnist for The Wall Street Journal and hosted the realitytelevision program called Bailout!
At the Optimistic American we are committed to helping Americans rebuild their sense ofagency, and no group is more important than small business entrepreneurs. If you are a smallbusiness entrepreneur and need help on leadership, management, and marketing, If you needto rebuild your business agency, your faith in yourself, don’t miss this episode.
 
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This is an Extraordinary Time to be an American - Peter Zeihan

In this discussion with Paul Johnson and Peter Zeihan you will gain an understanding of the changing global order, and why you can be optimistic about the future of America. Many Americans have surrendered their agency to the negative nightly news, candidates, political parties and social media, who prosper from “if it bleeds it leads.” This has created a view of the world and America's position that is distorted, and conceals America's true strength.
 
Learning the truth about America’s position in the world will make you a lot more optimistic. Peter is a world renown Geopolitical analyst whose background in economics, energy, and demographics. His work indicates significant problems for Russia, China and other world powers, and major advantages for Americans as globalism is replaced by regionalism. Millennials and American workers will benefit from the re-industrialization of the United States and this will be one of the best decades for job and wage growth.
 
Peter talks about America's leadership role in the world over the last 80 years, possible recession, inflation, the Ukrainian war, advice for policy makers, and advice for American workers on how to benefit from the new world order.
 
We are The Optimistic American, and we are in the business of promoting what is going right in our country. Every day, there is tremendous progress being made in America — across technology, public policy, science and medicine, and much more — that will set current and future generations up for success. Our goal is to highlight these advancements and tilt the scale of news and information from pessimism towards optimism.
 
This episode reflects the best themes of The Optimistic American, that our best days lie ahead.
 
We post new content every week so make sure to follow us and like our podcast! Please leave a review and let us know what you think!
 
Learn more about The Optimistic American by checking out our website! https://www.optamerican.com

When Meaning is More Important Than Happiness

Join Dr. Bashah and I in this series regarding the 7 steps to regain your agency.  Addictive ideologies promoted by the nightly news, political parties, candidates and social media can rob you of your ability to see the world clearly, and benefit from its opportunities. 
 
This episode begins with Viktor Frankl’s experience in Nazi Concentration Camps and the development of his Logotherapy that is very successful in helping people deal with fears and suicidal thoughts through meaning.   We then transition to how we can unknowingly be in a victim mindset, how to break free, to motivate ourselves and find true happiness, that can only come from meaning.
 
To support the podcast and spread our message, forward this episode to others you think it may be helpful too.
 
We are The Optimistic American, and we are in the business of promoting what is going right in our country. Every day, there is tremendous progress being made in America — across technology, public policy, science and medicine, and much more — that will set current and future generations up for success. Our goal is to highlight these advancements and tilt the scale of news and information from pessimism towards optimism.
 
We post new content every week so make sure to follow, turn on notifications, and review our videos! Learn more about The Optimistic American by checking out our website! https://www.optamerican.com