Posted on 02/22/2006 9:58:24 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
WASHINGTON -- To bemused conservatives, it looks like yet another example of analytic overkill by the intelligentsia -- a jobs program for the (mostly liberal) academic boys (and girls) in the social sciences, whose quantitative tools have been brought to bear to prove the obvious.
A survey by the Pew Research Center shows that conservatives are happier than liberals -- in all income groups. While 34 percent of all Americans call themselves ``very happy,'' only 28 percent of liberal Democrats (and 31 percent of moderate or conservative Democrats) do, compared to 47 percent of conservative Republicans. This finding is niftily self-reinforcing: It depresses liberals.
Election results do not explain this happiness gap. Republicans have been happier than Democrats every year since the survey began in 1972. Married people and religious people are especially disposed to happiness, and both cohorts vote more conservatively than does the nation as a whole.
People in the Sun Belt -- almost entirely red states -- have sunnier dispositions than Northerners, which could have as much to do with sunshine as with conservatism. Unless sunshine makes people happy, which makes them conservative.
Such puzzles show why social science is not for amateurs. Still, one cannot -- yet -- be prosecuted for committing theory without a license, so consider a few explanations of the happiness gap.
Begin with a paradox: Conservatives are happier than liberals because they are more pessimistic. Conservatives think the book of Job got it right (``Man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward''), as did Adam Smith (``There is a great deal of ruin in a nation''). Conservatives understand that society in its complexity resembles a giant Calder mobile -- touch it here and things jiggle there, and there, and way over there. Hence conservatives acknowledge the Law of Unintended Consequences, which is: The unintended consequences of bold government undertakings are apt to be larger than, and contrary to, the intended ones.
Conservatives' pessimism is conducive to their happiness in three ways. First, they are rarely surprised -- they are right more often than not about the course of events. Second, when they are wrong they are happy to be so. Third, because pessimistic conservatives put not their faith in princes -- government -- they accept that happiness is a function of fending for oneself. They believe that happiness is an activity -- it is inseparable from the pursuit of happiness.
The right to pursue happiness is the essential right that government exists to protect. Liberals, taking their bearings, whether they know it or not, from President Franklin Roosevelt's 1936 State of the Union address, think the attainment of happiness itself, understood in terms of security and material well-being, is an entitlement that government has created and can deliver.
On Jan. 3, 1936, FDR announced that in 34 months his administration had established a ``new relationship between government and people.'' Amity Shlaes, a keen student of FDR's departure from prior political premises, says, ``The New Deal had a purpose beyond curing the Depression. It was to make people look to Washington for help at all times.'' Henceforth, the federal government would be permanently committed to serving a large number of constituencies: ``Occasional gifts to farmers or tariffs for business weren't enough.'' So, liberals: Smile -- you've won.
Nevertheless, normal conservatives -- never mind the gladiators of talk radio; they are professionally angry -- are less angry than liberals. Liberals have made this the era of surly automobile bumpers, millions of them, still defiantly adorned with Kerry-Edwards and even Gore-Lieberman bumper stickers, faded and frayed like flags preserved as relics of failed crusades. To preserve these mementos of dashed dreams, many liberals may be forgoing the pleasures of buying new cars -- another delight sacrificed on the altar of liberalism.
But, then, conscientious liberals cannot enjoy automobiles because there is global warming to worry about, and the perils of corporate-driven consumerism which is the handmaiden of bourgeoisie materialism. And high-powered cars (how many liberals drive Corvettes?) are metaphors (for America's reckless foreign policy, for machismo rampant, etc.). And then there is -- was -- all that rustic beauty paved over for highways. (And for those giant parking lots at exurban mega-churches. The less said about them, the better). And automobiles discourage the egalitarian enjoyment of mass transit. And automobiles, by facilitating suburban sprawl, deny sprawl's victims -- that word must make an appearance in liberal laments; and lament is what liberals do -- the uplifting communitarian experience of high-density living. And automobiles ...
You see? Liberalism is a complicated and exacting, not to say grim and scolding, creed. And not one conducive to happiness.
IMHO, the Dems define their political opportunities in the misery of their fellow American......
I listen to NPR all day...well not really. I get two stations on my walkman inside an electronics factor. One is NPR and one is a local variety station that plays talk and reggae music. Sometimes NPR has great programming but as soon as the doom and gloom starts off it goes.
When I had more liberal ideals, I was not happier. Now I am quite happy because I refuse to surround myself with people who insist on 'looking at the realities of the world'. These are the same people who complain that movies aren't realistic and want to squeeze every opportunity for joy out of life. It's really sad.
Hard to be happy, when that teenage angry malcontent still resides within you, always rebelling against order and structure, forever wanting to "tear it all down".
I'm happy (except when my husband's clock-radio turns on NPR in the morning :-). Sleep-deprived, but happy.
How are you doing, cy?
LMAO! Nice call.
Excsue me, conservatives are pessimistic????? Get real. Who thinks the world is doom because of global warming. Who thinks our robust economy is worst than the great depression. Who thinks everything America does is evil.
He told us that our country could once again be a force for good in the world. Then he proceeded to do it. Liberals like Carter and Clinton start with the premise that, if anyone dislikes us, it must be something we did wrong. Carter gave away the Panama canal and Clinton aplogized to every continent except Antarctica (no chicks there). Carter sat there in his sweater and scolded us for wanting to be great. We should bicycle to work, his energy secretary said. My work was 45 minutes away by car at the time. Nice try, moron.
For the last twenty-five years the Reagan view has prevailed. We won the Cold War, mankinds greatest struggle for freedom vs. tyranny. Even when Clinton infected the White House the Congress turned more and more Republican as the nation rejected his views. The Supreme Court will be returning to an interpretive rather than legislative role. The liberal Northeast is dying through attrition as people vote with their feet. College students are decidedly more conservative than their professors. Etc., etc. Why shouldn't we feel better?
I no longer think very favorably about Geo. Will. I heard this story last night on charlie Rose by the author of a new bio on Reagan. Reagan is hosting a state dinner for Gorby. He stands up toasts the Russian and says, "He and I will change the world." Geo. Will said the next day, REagn will sell out our country and yesteday was worse than Dec 7 1941." Geo Will continues to get the facts wrong. He continues to get the future wrong. What he is good about is writing the history of baseball. No vision all talk.
Not as good as you mommy :-)
I hope you're sleeping, at least!
That Thera Pist knows what she's talking about, doesn't she? ;)
Agreed, The Rapist sure does...
Its hard to be happy when you really think George Bush is going to throw you in a concentration camp any day now.
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