People who are worried and uncertain cope in several ways. One of the first things we do is try to give ourselves a sense of control. Control helps ease the feeling of threat and danger. We certainly saw a lot of that in the recent elections. As in "We're taking back our government", a rallying cry that might just as well be "Voting out the people in power is a way of feeling like we're taking some control over how things are going, because in unsettling times taking control feels reassuring." Except that's not quite as good a slogan.
      The punditry is pointing out how angry people seem, and how much they want change, blaming bad economic times for these passions. They are right, of course, but they miss a far more important and fundamental factor. We're worried. Worried about our safety. Worry about our financial security. Worried about the future. Worrying - feeling threatened - triggers powerful ancient self-protective instincts. In political terms those instincts are currently fueling not only the relatively few (albeit loud) voices in the Tea Party, but much more broadly throughout the electorate, led to the largest rejection of a sitting political party in more than 70 years. But these are symptoms. The cause is far deeper. This vote was a demonstration of how we behave when we're worried and trying to protect ourselves.
      In the elections two years ago that brought Barack Obama to the Presidency, the desire for change was more about ideology. The dark days of economic disaster had not yet fully blossomed. There was plenty of the standard frustration about government and politicians putting personal power above country and policy in that vote, but there wasn't nearly as much deep-in-the-gut worry. Starting around Obama's election (and before he was even sworn in), the economic skies darkened significantly, and two years later there is no bright horizon in view. That's deeply unsettling. Since the "Yes We Can" election of 2008, all those Obama voters have not suddenly become politically conservative. They've become more worried. Sorry, Speaker Boehner and Senator Minority Leader McConnell, but this vote was not specifically a rejection of the health care reform law or the stimulus package. It wasn't even rejection of Democrats. It was a vote by people who, rightfully worried and uncertain, sought a reassuring sense of control by voting against the politicians that happen in charge at the moment.
      It's vital to understand what's driving this deep worry. The economy is a big part of it, but only a part. Yes, unemployment is high, but 90% of the people who want jobs have one. Sluggish growth generally, and no improvement in sight? Important, yes, but that's not it alone. How about terrorist threats, climate change, unstable regimes with nuclear weapons (and the missiles to project their fear far beyond their borders), new germs that can resist our most powerful drugs, an ever-more overpopulated world running out of basic things like fish in the ocean and clean water and arable land? It's all of these threats, and many more, magnified by a 24/7 "The Sky is Falling" information media that hypes danger and conflict, all feeding our gnawing sense of uncertainty, and worry, and hunger for a sense of control, and safety.