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Perhaps it’s the euphoria inspired by the successes of our Olympic athletes washing over us that has elevated the public mood. Or, perhaps it is just the mood in the New York Times newsroom. Today’s Times’ editorial page features pieces by conservative columnist David Brooks and liberal op-ed writer Timothy Egan which use our accumulation of Olympic medals as preambles to discussions of what is right with America. Think of it as the Times’ anti-pessimism issue. Both writers take dead aim at the negative view of the country promulgated by Donald Trump.

“Well, if you step outside the pall of the angry campaign rhetoric, you see that America’s institutions are generally quite strong,” Brooks asserts. “... America’s economic success is like our Olympic success, writ large. The nation’s troubles are evident, but our country has sound fundamentals.”

Egan is an even more ebullient cheerleader, stating that “truth, justice and the American way are prevailing throughout the land.” He sees “a rejection — sweeping, and unequivocal — of the incivility and dangerous strain of anti-constitutional bigotry that Trump represents.”

In both cases, the writers present evidence to substantiate their opinions. Brooks draws his optimism from the strength of our democratic and economic institutions. Egan, looking to the future, draws his reasons to hope from the younger generations: “Millennials are saving us,” he argues.

Optimism has always been a prominent feature of the nation’s zeitgeist. There was always hope to be found, somehow, somewhere. In the roughest times, it was conveyed by  the positive leadership of a Lincoln or Franklin Roosevelt. Even Reagan conveyed a sense of hope (proving that, at times, leadership is as much about style as it is about substance). What Brooks and Egan point out- to those of us who lose sight of it while enduring our daily travails- is that the capacity to deal with the nation’s problems has not been lost. We have only lost sight of that capacity, but it is still with us.

American society faces many problems- economic inequality, racial injustice: we know the litany. The process of fixing them begins with believing we can fix them. Given that, in our awkward democracy, problem-solving on a societal scale is a heavy lift, having that belief is a most important pre-requisite.