Every time I think I may be the worst blogger in the world, I check the 90 percent of other blogs whose authors fail to post anything for weeks at a time and feel better. At least I’m constantly tweeting between fuller posts for those of you who give a damn (and even maybe for those of you who don’t); there’s a daily digest of these updates at the end of each day, so bookmark the site and check back often.

Life is quieter and more optimistic after the U.S. election. Next, as a nation: Thanksgiving, which has to be almost the best holiday in any country anywhere in the world. In two and a half weeks, I’ll be stuffing my face with stuffed turkey and all manner of other food, and it will be thanks to capitalism that I do so.

That’s right: capitalism is what makes it possible for me to eat stuff I didn’t raise or grow myself. The reason I feel compelled to remind you of this is that many people – most of whom are already predisposed against capitalism in the first place – are keen to assume loudly that the financial crisis is somehow a failure of capitalism and to sound the death knell of the Western Way Of Life. This is, mildly, an overreaction, and, bluntly, a clusterfuck of an argument without basis in reality. See Radley Balko’s piece here for more on why (and let’s not forget that it was socialist ideas espoused by the Clinton administration and others which prompted the sub-prime lending of this crisis, as forewarned by a New York Times piece in 1999).

So, life after the election here in America is an interesting mix of optimism which looks to Obama for all the answers to every problem past, present and future, and the blaming of capitalism, free markets and libertarian ideas for those problems. I have no doubts whatsoever that by Thanksgiving next year, Americans will understand that shifting leftward hasn’t helped them much, and we may finally see the beginnings of the end of this crisis. As for Obama, I am also optimistic for America’s journey into his presidency. He has a difficult task and nobody should think he can – or should try to – solve every problem in America. Our capitalist economy comes first.

And by the way, there’s a lot still to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Most of us are still paying our bills. Most of us haven’t been fired. Melissa and I drive our SUVs daily to and from home and work. Our power is still on, our internet is still running, our cellphones are working, we watch satellite TV from a comfortable couch. Life could be a lot worse! The economy is bad, but only in comparison to the standard of life we’ve created in America. The poor of the U.S. are better off than the poor in almost any other nation, and their opportunities to better themselves are greater. Perhaps Thanksgiving will mean more this year as a nation than anytime in the past twenty years!

And yes, we’ll still have turkey and stuffing to eat, and plenty of it.

This is still America.