“The world is treating me bad — misery.”

The line may not be a good example of Lennon & McCartney’s genius with a lyric, but it does capture the attitude Charles C. W. Cooke describes in his cover piece, “Against Misery,” in the new issue of National Review. Charlie has had it up to here with people — politicians, the media, ordinary Americans — who “moan, complain, grumble, cavil, and bitch” about the United States.

Could we perhaps dial down our angst just a little? If, as is mercifully common, you have been spared one of the handful of genuine problems that your grandparents might have recognized as such, then “Cheer up” is pretty solid advice, all told. I know, I know. You don’t like the president? Neither do I. And you wish that some of the laws that bind you were different? Me too. And you think that things could be better than they are? You’re right. They could. But is that really a reason to be so down on your country?

Could we perhaps dial down our angst just a little? If, as is mercifully common, you have been spared one of the handful of genuine problems that your grandparents might have recognized as such, then “Cheer up” is pretty solid advice, all told. I know, I know. You don’t like the president? Neither do I. And you wish that some of the laws that bind you were different? Me too. And you think that........

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