Americans are in a surly mood.  The punditry and establishment are perplexed.  And leave it to C.S. Lewis to explain the problem.  In his disquieting essay, “The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment”  one would think he were writing about today’s Democratic Party.

Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. Their very kindness stings with intolerable insult.

Now let’s think about some of the Democrat’s programs intended to improve our lot. ObamaCare, for instance, has provided health insurance to the few and major costs and trouble to the many. Dodd-Frank has restricted borrowing and created tens of thousands of “bankless” American’s. The $800 billion dollar stimulus program bought what?  The EPA turned the Animas River in Colorado into a mustard-like toxic mess -- minus, of course,  the multi-million dollar settlement Democrats squeezed from BP after its rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. Thousands of kids have revolted against Michele Obama’s school lunch mandates.  Middle-class Americans see fees added to their electric bills to pay for windmills and grant $7500 tax credits to upper income Americans so they can buy a Tesla.

The list goes on and on.

Now, wouldn’t the opposition party have its finger to the wind, sense the frustration and capitalize on it? Not in Washington.

There, the opponents tacitly agree with the “omnipotent moral busybodies” -- hence the two-year budget and deal with Iran.

No wonder the natives are restless.