Posted on 02/08/2008 8:44:55 PM PST by Squawk 8888
After virtually ignoring happiness for more than 100 years, social scientists are making up for lost time. They're churning out hundreds of research papers on the subject each year. There are happiness conferences, a Journal of Happiness Studies, a World Database of Happiness. Happy, you might say, is the new sad.
All of this cogitating about contentment has revealed much about who's supposedly happy and who isn't. Most studies show that wealthy people are marginally happier than poor ones. People with pets or children are no happier than those without. People with active sex lives are -- surprise! -- happier than those without. No single morsel of happiness data, though, is more intriguing than this: Republicans are happier than Democrats.
A 2006 Pew Research poll found that 45 percent of Republicans describe themselves as "very happy," compared with only 30 percent of Democrats (and 29 percent of independents). This is a sizable gap and a remarkably consistent one, too. Republicans have been happier than Democrats every year since the General Social Survey, conducted biannually by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, began asking about happiness in 1972.
What to make of this finding? Is there something about being a card-carrying member of the GOP that induces a warm, fuzzy feeling, a sort of political Prozac? Or does the river of causality flow in the other direction: Are happy people more likely to become Republicans than Democrats? Or maybe neither explanation holds water and it only appears as if Republicans are happier than Democrats.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Republicans and conservatives are generally happier because we negate greivance driven politics and agendas.
And we love America, and appreciate it more than Democrats and liberals.
Democrats were very happy on 9/11.
Your always happier when you actually stand for something you can be proud of. So yes it does flow in the opposite direction. Plus knowing your right (no pun intended) in general creates a better foundation for being happy. Imagine the torment the left must deal with in their everyday lives knowing deep in their hearts that they are idiots.
I read the article and I will offer my own opinion. The reason Republicans are happier than Democrats is that political correctness has driven Democrats to feel guilty for living and breathing.
The other thing I’ve noticed about leftists is that the always seem totally consumed by angst and anger. I get upset about current events too, but then I get on with my life and have fun any way I can. Among leftists, I sense the attitude that nobody should be happy until all of their pet causes have been fulfilled. So not only are they upset about the issue du jour, they’re even more upset that other people are happy.
I’ll do you one better...we’re less apt to be plied with the wiles of pure bull hockey.....thus we are duped less often....so we really arent all that happier...we’re less bitter....
Plus we get to make fun of liberals.
On the other hand, if you believe that you are lucky as can be to live in the greatest nation on earth, then you are going to end up being both grateful and happy.
Why the diff between R's and D's? That's an easy one.
When I look around me, I see America.
I see her Magnificent cities and small towns that are beautiful as well as functional.
I see her fascinating technology an her seemingly unstoppable ability to advance that technology.
I see her productive citizenry empowering an economic engine without compare. Others try to equal it but fall far, far short.
I see a generally happy and Just people with both disposable leisure time and income on their hands.
I see natural beauty and unending bounty that feeds the world.
I see a compassionate people who treat their poor better than the middle class in most other countries of the world.
And over it all, protecting it, I see a citizen Military, the most advanced on the planet, willing to give their lives to protect it all.
What does a Dem see?
A Dem sees a country littered with corruption, with unending problems that only they have the ability to repair if only they had just a little bit more of the money that the producers in this country produce.
A Dem sees a haughty, unjust, arrogant people who are spreading poison over the world.
They see an America where the economy isn't something to be tuned and protected, but to be plundered and regulated into insensibility until it's no better than the other economies in the world, mediocre at best.
Dems see the US Military as the enemy of all free people everywhere, enslaving them and stealing their resources.
I'm happy because I refuse to be unhappy all the way through the only life I'm ever going to get!
Godspeed and GOD BLESS AMERICA!!
I’m happy because this is as close to hell as I’m going to get.
“I get upset about current events too, but then I get on with my life and have fun any way I can.”
Me too, but I have been surprised at the tone on Free Republic lately re: McCain’s apparent nomination. I can understand people being disappointed or disgruntled, but many of us are falling totally apart and making extraordinary threats. It is not the end of the world; I wish people would realize that, and work with the reality without extreme bitterness. Make the best of it, you know?
Ditto.
I couldn't add to that astute post.
The vast majority of evangelical conservative Christians tend to be Republicans. It is the believers, IMHO, who have every reason to be happy. They have read the final chapter in world history!
I think personal responsibility has a lot to do with it. It seems most liberals feel that somebody always owes them something - a LOT of something. Most conservatives are more grateful for what they have, and if they have a problem, look for ways to solve the problem instead of blaming somebody.
awwww, this is but one election cycle my dear, there will God willing be many more.
I imagine it would be hard to be happy at 30 years old, unemployed and living in your mother’s basement.
Just looking at the average democrat based on observations at DU and KOS.
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