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Happiness, money and politics
John Ray ^ | 2005 | By John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.)

Posted on 08/28/2011 8:15:15 AM PDT by marktwain

I have been thinking and reading about happiness ever since I came across the work of Michael Argyle on the subject in the 1970s. And, despite many complexities in the research findings, I think in the end the facts about it are surprisingly simple:

It seems that happiness is to a quite extraordinary degree a trait rather than a state. In other words, we are born happy, unhappy or somewhere in-between. There are a lot of people who are always miserable (most Leftists, for instance) and some who are always sunny in mood no matter what. Even when we find that some classes of people (e.g. married people) are happier than others, it seems likely that it is more a case of happier people tending to marry rather than marriage making you happy.

That is of course rather counter-intuitive. We can all think of events that have made us happy or unhappy so we assume that it is events (or at least external things) that are responsible for our degree of happiness. But it is not so. The events only ever have a transitory effect. We soon settle back to how we were before. The most striking evidence of that is that people who have accidents that leave them paraplegic or quadriplegic (i.e. with very limited use of their limbs) do not sink into irretrievable depths of despair but in fact report after a year or so that they are roughly as happy after their accident as they were before their accident.

So policies aimed at making people happy are pissing into the wind. They are trying to alter what basically cannot be much altered. So in a democracy, political policies have to be aimed at what people WANT, not at what will make them happy -- because nothing can

(Excerpt) Read more at jonjayray.tripod.com ...


TOPICS: Education; Government; History; Politics
KEYWORDS: happiness; money; phsycology; politics
Another excellent article by John Ray, that has not got much exposure.
1 posted on 08/28/2011 8:15:20 AM PDT by marktwain
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To: marktwain

I’m happy to say that I agree with this article...but dogs help, too.


2 posted on 08/28/2011 8:19:07 AM PDT by gorush (History repeats itself because human nature is static)
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To: marktwain
It seems that happiness is to a quite extraordinary degree a trait rather than a state. In other words, we are born happy, unhappy or somewhere in-between.

and there it is...

3 posted on 08/28/2011 8:58:09 AM PDT by Chode (American Hedonist - *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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To: Chode
And, unhappy people are much more likely to be leftists.
4 posted on 08/28/2011 9:10:35 AM PDT by marktwain (In an age of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.)
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To: marktwain

It would be amazing to see a study of “happy” people in relation to their acceptance and adherence to natural law which is Biblical law.

For example, I might desire to pursue a business because I am motivated and inspired by the service or product I am selling to the public. That inspiration is not purely materialistic (libertarian) but rather, is inspirational. Inspirational means that the product or service I am pursing will benefit humanity and my central motivation and happiness lies in that inspiration.

In American freedom’s ideology, I am free from oppression in order to establish that business and in natural law, I am free to benefit from the monetarily from that pursuit.

People who are unhappy reject natural law or are not capable of comprehending it. They become involved in “sins” against natural law blaming others for their lack of inspiration/success and deploy covetness in jealously of others who are able to engage natural law in their world view, minds, and lives.

For example, it is no mistake that the greens or watermelons suffer the unhappiness of jealously and fear for “capitalists” or those who have an inspiration that they pursue in freedom and that has economic and/or social rewards. Jealously in the spirit precludes inspiration or success and therefore, happiness.

The sin of coveting is the opposite of inspiration and the resulting wealth. We inherit these attitudes and understandings/knowledge/habits from our parents. In natural law, the sins of the fathers are passed on to their offspring.

But then there is also the sin of deceipt deployed by wealthy amoral theives. In deception, a business man or woman sees only profit as the goal - even if that is won based in an ability to trick people in order to rob them. An example of that would be the banksters who bundled and sold bad mortgages in order to make a profit knowing they were selling a bum deal and betraying the natural laws governing moral and successful banking.

These people are totally materially motivated and totally lack the inspiration of justice and morality needed for happiness. They are rich and unhappy and always pursuing total control over those they have robbed because they are in fear of meeting the justice dealt to theives. They are often megalomanics and in pursuit of the power of eugenics -the human power over life and death. Those who are self governing in happiness (natural law) are their biggest threat and enemies.

So it stands to reason that the state of happiness is in alignment with natural law and those people who are happy and those who are in rebellion of natural law (theives in capitalism or socialists who are fearful and resentful theives using centralized power) are materialistic and unhappy, jealous wannabe and amoral shady characters.

Unhappiness is a personality devoid of moral authority and well being and it’s intrinistic human value or worthiness. The quad who is happy knows his intrinsitic value as a human being under natural law and the quad who is sucidal only sees the material value of his existence devoid of the inspiration known by those who comprehend and live by natural law.


5 posted on 08/28/2011 9:32:49 AM PDT by SaraJohnson
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To: marktwain
absolutely... leftism is a mental problem
6 posted on 08/28/2011 9:35:46 AM PDT by Chode (American Hedonist - *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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