Some folks believe prayer can effect cures – God listens. While “miracle cures” discourage scientific examination, there is little doubt that there is a certain amount of mental involvement in the getting-well business. Physicians have long recognized that a positive outlook is always beneficial, and occasionally curative. Scientists testing new medicines or methods must ensure that neither the control group receiving a placebo, nor the folks actually being tested, are aware of who is getting what. Thus, any “mind effect” would be felt equally and can be ruled out in comparison of results.

At the same time, belief can work either way. Negative belief (commonly expressed as fear) may help produce a negative outcome. Neuroscientists have long known that “anticipation of anxiety” causes a certain molecule to flash its merry way through the brain mechanism to produce angst. If people can be made to believe that things are going to be bad, they may contribute to things actually becoming bad. When FDR said, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” he knew what he was talking about.

Consider the overwrought fear that sent us into Iraq. Consider the current campaign for global warming. Consider the hype surrounding the swine flu. Consider the politicians in panic at the thought of Guantanamo terrorists in a domestic super-max prison. Consider the alarm about immigration and the need for giant border fences.

Above all, consider the current strategy of the Republicans in Congress as the “Party of No!!” deals in fear.

If the president wants to improve the nation’s infrastructure or stabilize banks or rescue industry or create employment or keep people in their homes, the Republican minority does not argue the merits of the proposals. As a solid bloc they simply thunder fears of disaster – national ruination – and vote no. When every single Republican in the House and all but the two Maine women in the Senate vote against the president’s stimulus proposal, those politicians have something in mind other than the issue itself. There is no possible way for unanimous agreement by 100 politicians (unless it is the desire for their own re-election). It would deny the complexity of interests across the United States, as well as human nature.

When eight out of nine Republicans on the key Senate health committee (again, a woman from Maine left the flock) fulminated against government-managed medical care for the poor, there has to be something unspoken in their reasoning. Can the possibility of fear be suggested? Are these Republicans afraid of the problem of national health being solved by the Democrats?

Black skin panicked the South (and some of the North) for generations. Fear of same-sex marriage upsets the Catholic hierarchy. Common-sense drug policy upsets the enforcement bureaucracy. Humane treatment of prisoners terrifies Cheney and Limbaugh. But within these cases, there are always cracks in the structures – they are not entirely, absolutely exclusive. There were always some members whose opposition was based on reason and facts.

So why the all-embracing agreement among Republicans to cry doom? How come? What’s in it for them?

To find that answer requires consideration of “anticipation of anxiety.” Fear is easy to inspire among the ill educated and paranoid, a segment of the country that is rapidly becoming the core of the Republican party – self-identified patriots who believe that waves of terrorists are approaching our shores in rubber boats ready to do us harm exist in large numbers. Look at the size of the audience enjoyed by Fox News. Consider the millions who hang on Rush Limbaugh’s venomous words.

Above all, fear encourages failure.

The elephant has gone mad. In its frustration over the loss of power, it is willing to destroy its own habitat. The no-party apparently believes that national collapse would facilitate its own return to power.

At its annual meeting last month, the American Psychiatric Association defined a new mental illness – Post Traumatic Embitterment Disorder (PTED)- and defined it: “Those people whose loss or disappointment crushes them; sufferers who are unable to overcome their disappointment and sense of injustice, and who, as a result, cannot function or perform their life tasks with reason and dignity.”

If there ever was a clear definition of today’s congressional Republicans, this is it.

Rodney Quinn, who lives in Gorham, is a former Maine secretary of state. He can be reached at [email protected].