Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
This forum is in permanent archive mode. Our new active community can be found here.
Why I'm happier than Joe
When religious and political differences are combined, the results are striking. Secular liberals are as likely to say they are “not too happy†as to say they are very happy (22% to 22%). Religious conservatives are ten times more likely to report being very happy than not too happy (50% to 5%). Religious liberals are about as happy as secular conservatives.Why American Conservatives are happier than American Liberals
Why should this be so? Mr Brooks proposes that whatever their respective merits, the conservative world view is more conducive to happiness than the liberal one (in the American sense of both words). American conservatives tend to believe that if you work hard and play by the rules, you can succeed. This makes them more optimistic than liberals, more likely to feel in control of their lives and therefore happier. American liberals, at their most pessimistic, stress the injustice of the economic system, the crushing impersonal forces that keep the little guy down and what David Mamet, a playwright, recently summed up as the belief that “everything is always wrongâ€. Emphasising victimhood was noble during the 1950s and 1960s, says Mr Brooks. By overturning Jim Crow laws, liberals gave the victims of foul injustice greater control over their lives. But in as much as the American left is now a coalition of groups that define themselves as the victims of social and economic forces, and in as much as its leaders encourage people to feel helpless and aggrieved, he thinks they make America a glummer place.
Comments
Could it also be that since the Regan years the U.S. has been governed by the conservatives (even Clinton was barely a moderate and far more conservative when viewed in comparison with what most of the world considers liberal), and thus the government has given them exactly what they wanted (an underfunded school system, diminished personal rights, an economy that is destroying the middle class, a huge deficit that squashes all social spending, and wars that feed the oil companies and military suppliers)? Maybe being catered to makes you a tad happier, go figure!
I would like to see that study applied to Europe, with their very different socio-political atmosphere.
I'm happy enough with my life, but my country and my surroundings? Not a chance.
It depends on whose ox is being gored. I can cite to people saying that liberals are smarter than conservatives. Source.