Well, Well, Well

And then there come those moments in the political theater called a Presidential Election Year that go beyond farce into the netherworld of possible insanity. Into the netherworld boldly goes John Kerry's Department of Wellness as even Kerry supporter Mickey Kaus recognizes. Really if Kerry hadn't announced it himself, I would have dismissed this Department of Wellness as a ploy by the geniuses who bring us "the People's Cube" .

Yes, it's HI-LARIOUS. But as Jonah Goldberg notes in The Corner , the name, the Department of Wellness, rings with an Orwellian tone. And so it does, but I find an even more ominous literary parallel. Start with a Department of Wellness and the Brave New World is not far behind.

Does this sound a bit extreme even from Cassandra, The Style Editor? Perhaps, but consider. The World Health Organization in its Constitution defines health as " state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." In which case your Style Editor would like to point out that she may have been healthy for all of 5 years out of her 33, but WHO might think that assessment optimistic. However, your average Victorian novelist would describe me as "bursting with rude health."

From WHO this well-being gobbledygook means nothing. There's so much disease and infirmity in the world that WHO can't even cope with that much less worry about our mental and social well-beings. (Although as it is, WHO spends far too much time worrying about health problems in the developed world.) In the developed world where we don't have diseases like malaria (How could I resist?) slaughtering our children and driving down the GDP, however, this definition becomes extremely problematic, and there is no doubt in my mind that the Dept. of Wellness would embrace WHO's definition. After all, it's international.

Thisdefinition leads to a bioethical swamp through which we will pick our way in later postings, but not now because I am feeling unwell.