Decius wrote:

Married people are happier than unmarrieds. People who worship frequently are happier than those who don't. Republicans are happier than Democrats. Rich people are happier than poor people. Whites and Hispanics are happier than blacks. Sunbelt residents are happier than those who live in the rest of the country.

Get rich, get married, get religion, get a gun, get a place in Miami, and vote for Jeb...

One wonders if Democrats are less happy because they spend more time thinking about poor people, gun violence, and the long term impacts of foreign policy rather then enjoying low taxes and military ass kicking.

You have a good point. A lot of my left of centre friends seem fairly miserable complaining about the state of the world. I say "seem" because at a deeper level this activity appears to make them happy. While most of my right of centre friends seem to be happy to complain about taxes, the government, and - of course - my left of centre friends.

In short, a lot of people seem to be happy being miserable.

As Merkins would say, "Go figure."

Decius wrote:

Married people are happier than unmarrieds. People who worship frequently are happier than those who don't. Republicans are happier than Democrats. Rich people are happier than poor people. Whites and Hispanics are happier than blacks. Sunbelt residents are happier than those who live in the rest of the country.

Get rich, get married, get religion, get a gun, get a place in Miami, and vote for Jeb...

One wonders if Democrats are less happy because they spend more time thinking about poor people, gun violence, and the long term impacts of foreign policy rather then enjoying low taxes and military ass kicking.

No, they're less happy because they spend more time THINKING and less time CONSUMING. Ignorance is bliss.

Decius wrote:

Married people are happier than unmarrieds. People who worship frequently are happier than those who don't. Republicans are happier than Democrats. Rich people are happier than poor people. Whites and Hispanics are happier than blacks. Sunbelt residents are happier than those who live in the rest of the country.

Get rich, get married, get religion, get a gun, get a place in Miami, and vote for Jeb...

One wonders if Democrats are less happy because they spend more time thinking about poor people, gun violence, and the long term impacts of foreign policy rather then enjoying low taxes and military ass kicking.

married people are happier than single people? so -that's- why the divorce rate is approaching 60%....

i concur with the earlier post: they're really measuring security, not happiness. i'm pretty happy in my leftwing northeastern democratic singlehood, but i'm also pretty damn worried about the state of things.

I was thinking about commenting on the divorce rate as well but decided to stick with the security argument.

bluegirl wrote:

Decius wrote:

Married people are happier than unmarrieds. People who worship frequently are happier than those who don't. Republicans are happier than Democrats. Rich people are happier than poor people. Whites and Hispanics are happier than blacks. Sunbelt residents are happier than those who live in the rest of the country.

Get rich, get married, get religion, get a gun, get a place in Miami, and vote for Jeb...

One wonders if Democrats are less happy because they spend more time thinking about poor people, gun violence, and the long term impacts of foreign policy rather then enjoying low taxes and military ass kicking.

married people are happier than single people? so -that's- why the divorce rate is approaching 60%....

i concur with the earlier post: they're really measuring security, not happiness. i'm pretty happy in my leftwing northeastern democratic singlehood, but i'm also pretty damn worried about the state of things.

noteworthy wrote:
Don't you get it?

What makes you happy is keeping the other guy down.

The data show that what matters on the happiness front is not how much money you have, but whether you have more (or less) at any given time than everyone else.

I get that loud and clear!

Maybe democrats would be more happy if they could just WIN something. Fight for something. Change something.

It is hard to be happy when you keep getting badmouthed all the time, and you feel like your own party is constantly betraying you.

It sucks having to feel like a loser because of your beliefs.

Rorschach wrote:

I would argue a slightly different angle to that. Despite all the accusations thrown around not many people actively think about the origins of their goods and services (and thus whether they are keeping others "down"). What I see in this argument is the relative security each group enjoys compared to the other. The higher amount of perceived security, the more happiness (which doesn't apply to the Sunbelt. I'm sure that has some scientific reason like greater exposure to the sun minus cancer). But seriously, happiness is objective and I sure don't need Pew to tell me who has it and who doesn't. I'll leave that to Cosmo.

It's not complicated really. History is litered with examples of disparity in society and the ultimate manifestations of that. The US particularly faced that in the 20th century after WW2, as the rise of the upper middle class fueled 'white flight' and now you have at least 2 generations (arguably more) that have not had to work as hard to achieve ever greater 'success' (material goods primarily, but could be measured in other ways, such as spending power, capital accumulation, opportunity, etc). The effect was disenfranchising the poor, as the gap between low and higher castes widens within this population.

As the world globalizes more, this will just exacerbate. It's the same dynamic, except the gap is an order of magnitude greater (or 2, or 8). The difference between the poorest American and the richest Pakistani is pretty large, when you add up the access to services, resources, security, and opportunity. By the way, the poor American is favored in this equation. Still, you have a relatively small population in the world which is immensely powerful and placated (ie. Paris Hilton) and a very large and UNHAPPY population which is not. Whether they are unhappy because they see this dynamic or are living it is another matter entirely.

It's not a surprise that right leaning populations perceive themselves as 'happier'. I think if you conducted this research during any time in history, you'd get much the same answer (royalty, high castes, etc). People with a more conservative perspective generally have more command of resources in societies that are stable or even stagnant. However, that's unsustainable, since the lower castes tend to grow over time (error rate a la Matrix?).

I think we all know what happens when a great deal of poor restless people have decided they've had enough.