Politics and Happiness
Kathryn Jean Lopez
The Corner
Maggie, a reader comments:
<<< Maggie Gallagher's post on conservatives and happiness was interesting, and there is much to agree with. I had another thought, though: Is it possible that what skews it is not the fact that being conservative makes you happy, but that being happy makes you conservative? Intuitively, when one is happy with the status quo, they are less likely to embrace significant cultural changes, or expansions in the role of government.
I really doubt many people's personal happiness is impacted that much by the things the study considers. Speaking for myself, my marriage, my children, my faith, my job, my social life and my health are far more relevant to my personal happiness than the macro-economic and political stuff the researchers contemplate. Right now, the economy is in deep trouble, and (from my political vantage point) the political world is going to hell in a handbasket. But if the economy were going gangbusters, and real conservative politicians were running Washington wisely, but any of the six factors I cited above (marriage, family, faith, job, social life, health) were in trouble, I would be considerably less personally happy than I am now.
It's not that I don't think people should care about things political on a personal level — my life is steeped in politics (it's what I do for a living), and when I think of children starving in Africa (or, for that matter, unborn children being killed in the United States), I am deeply saddened, and I do what I can to change them. I care deeply about the big things. But my life is lived in a smaller sphere, thank God. To some that might sound selfish, but I would hate to be someone so wrapped up in the larger world that I couldn't find happiness in a job well done, a hug from my wife, a beer with an old friend, the quiet of my church when I'm there by myself, or my eighteen-month-old saying (as she's just learned) "I love you, Daddy." I think that is why conservatives are happier. >>>
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YWI1NTU2ODYwMGE2YWIwODllYjBjYzFkMWJjYTNkZDg= |
