Gene Healy: Let's not broaden the 'War on Despair'

Unwinding with one of my guilty pleasures recently — Spike TV’s “Ultimate Fighter” reality show — I caught a couple of recruitment ads for America’s armed services with an oddly touchy-feely tone.

The first showcased the Navy’s new slogan, “A Global Force for Good.” “I have heard the call to serve,” the narrator proclaims, and he’ll carry that call close to his heart until “the anguish of those less fortunate has been soothed.”