Within the limits of their own horizons, all people want the future to be better than the present.

All people. Including criminals and mass-murderers, though their horizons are dark and their definition of “better” is twisted. Still, that’s what it takes to write believable characters in fiction: to start with the assumption that even villains have some notion of a “better” future, for themselves if for no one else.

But it’s also an important consideration in motivating people to act in desired ways; no one likes to be criticized incessantly for being less than perfect. They want to learn what they can do to make it better.

When Ronald Reagan spoke about the things the Democrats had gotten wrong during the Carter years, it was always as preamble to what he wanted to do to get it right. He pointed out error and failure, but blame was secondary to his message—his real point was always, “That’s the past. Now, here’s what we as Americans can do to make the future better.”

Anyone looking at Reagan’s record as President knows he never got all of the things done that he said he wanted to do. He got what he could with the time and resources he had, and left office hoping his successor would build on his legacy. Can anyone imagine Ronald Reagan throwing his hands in the air, sputtering that George H.W. Bush had screwed up once and for all and everything he, Reagan, had done was now lost forever?

That wasn’t his style. And that isn’t what America needs in 2011. The Republicans in Congress need to be corrected when they screw up—not condemned.