It used to be that the Democratic Party was the glum party. In the 1970s and 1980s, Democratic party leaders often criticized the country relentlessly for its behavior at home and abroad, for its inequities and injustices. Think of civil rights and Vietnam. The Democrats, Jeane Kirkpatrick said at the 1984 Republican convention, always blame America first.

But today it is the Republican Party that often seems angry with America. Read the best-selling books by conservatives these days, watch Fox News or attend a Tea Party rally. They are filled with rage, often combined with a powerful nostalgia for an America that has gone away.

Watch the video for Fareed's take on how the winning party is usually the most optimistic one in U.S. elections.