Pre-Election Anxiety Disorder: Old Abe’s Cure

Washington Post writer Joel Achenbach diagnoses the body politic as suffering from Pre-election Anxiety Disorder (PAD). Symptoms are evident in Charlottesville. A local nursing home found itself in bitter controversy over the showing of the film Fahrenheit 911. This anxiety manifests itself in remarks such as “I’m afraid of a heart attack if Bush wins” or “Abortion is the greatest evil facing this country”.

The political campaign has provoked this disorder amongst religious believers on both sides of the political spectrum. To return from anxiety disorder to tranquility we might meditate on the words of America’s greatest moral-political theologian: Abraham Lincoln.

The issues in this campaign appeal to deep passions, provoking a desire to determine the outcome. As a result, many are falling into what educator Parker Palmer calls functional atheism: "the belief that ultimate responsibility for everything rests with me."

Caring about the country and deciding that its fate depends on defeat of Bush, or Kerry, leads to concern about the closeness of this election. The narrow margin and ever changing polls spur a redoubling of campaign efforts. Assuming ultimate responsibility for something that one does not control leads to anxiety.

We can find relief from PAD by reflecting on three points from the text of Lincoln’s second inaugural address. First, while he was “personally opposed” to slavery and did not favor outright abolition, he refrained from condemning its advocates: “… let us judge not, that we be not judged”. Second, by saying, “The Almighty has his own purposes”, he acknowledged that his own view, as well as the view of others, was incomplete.

Third, in his magnificent closing paragraph:

“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan--to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.”

Lincoln demonstrated humility and opened the door to reconciliation. He acknowledged that his view of “the right” was only partial and called on others to bind up the nation’s wounds.

Lincoln was not a functional atheist. He was willing to do his best, knowing that he was unable to assume responsibility for the ultimate outcome. In the closing days of this election we need to “strive to finish the work we are in….”. As we end this campaign we should assume responsibility only for our own vote and campaign efforts. If we assume that the Almighty has “ultimate responsibility for everything” we can face the outcome of this election without undue anxiety.