Democrats Should Have Nominated Dr. Phil
by Richard Lessner

Conventional wisdom has it that Republicans comprise the conservative party in American politics while Democrats are the liberal party. Although this is in a general sense true, the Democrats convened in Boston have fled at the speed of light from the dreaded "L" word and have sought to remake their party's image.

What do Democrats, having eschewed the liberal label, aspire to become? Observing the confabulation in Bean Town this week the conclusion would appear inescapable: The Democrats seek to be identified in the minds of the voters as the Therapeutic Party.

Digesting in the rhetoric from the assembled throng of those who deeply care, it becomes clear that the prevailing view among Democrats is as follows: It is the chief and proper role of government, and hence the political party that would seek to govern, to relieve the governed of their anxieties.

All the hand-wringing in Boston admits of few other interpretations. Democrats believe the most acute problem facing the nation is anxiety. They worry that Americans are worried. Elect John Kerry and John Edwards, they promise, and we will assuage your fears, relieve your anxieties, release you from gnawing concerns.

This is politics as therapy. The Democrats want us all to feel better. One almost expected Bobby McFerrin to burst onto the stage of the Fleet Center warbling "Don't Worry, Be Happy!"

The Dems, John Edwards in particular, seem ever so worried that the rest of us are worrying, wracked by Angst of the most profoundly existential variety. Millions of Americans who tuned in to the convention (okay, a few thousand, at least) must have thought that Mr. Edwards was speaking directly to them when he lamented the hardworking family man who, well, works hard but just can't seem to "get ahead."

I imagine a stunned Joe Six-Pack, longneck poised halfway to his lips, turning to his wife and saying in astonishment, "Why, Honey Buns, he's talking about us! We just can't seem to get ahead."

The Dems would put the gentleman's mind at ease. Oh, not by cutting his taxes and thereby helping him to pay the mortgage, get little Jenny braces and send little Johnny to the better private school down the street. Instead, they offer sympathy, a gentle cooing about how we Democrats understand so deeply what you fretful Americans are going through, what agonies of anxiety you doubtlessly suffer due to the evil machinations of the plutocratic Republicans.

Kerry-Edwards say vote for us and we'll make you feel better. This is the common theme that almost all the convention bloviators have had in common. The Democrat vision of America is that of a vast nation populated by neurotic, bipolar depressives bereft of hope, wallowing in worry. Whatever the problem from the heartbreak of psoriasis to male pattern baldness, the Dems bid for votes by promising . . . hope. The Democrats will make all of us feel better by offering us hope.

I don't mean to be trivial or frivolous. This sensibility marks a true divide between the two major parties. Republicans, conservatives, tend to believe that life is full not only of joy, happiness, success and accomplishment, but also of bumps and bruises, petty annoyances, grief, heartache, sometimes life-shattering experiences. This is natural. We all worry and we all suffer highs and lows. It's the human condition. Life is a struggle. Always has been. Conservatives accept this as the consequence of freedom. But conservatives also believe that a free people can overcome, rise above their anxieties, succeed and prevail.

Democrats, liberals, don't believe this. They believe (they really do) that most people are basically helpless, that it is the responsibility of a superior elite to care for them and, thereby, relieve their anxieties. "Don't worry," they say in so many words, "we're liberals and we're here to help you."

Traditionally it has been the role of religion, of faith, to offer comfort and solace amid the cares of life. This role increasingly is being co-opted by government. The trend is discernable among some Republicans judging by their acceptance of and increased funding for the therapeutic welfare state; but the Democrats have been wholly captured by the notion that government now fills the role previously reserved for faith.

So, in Boston, the Democrats emoted. They felt our pain, sympathized with our fears and anxieties, and offered to assuage our Angst through the gentle ministrations of the Therapeutic State. They should have nominated Dr. Phil.

Richard Lessner is Executive Director of the American Conservative Union.