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Why are Republicans so durned happy?
On Tuesday, December 1st, National Public Radio reporter and author Eric Weiner will give several talks on the University of California, Davis campus one of which is titled "Why Republicans Are So Happy (And Other Tales from the Science of Happiness)" – A Panel Discussion with Eric Weiner and UC Davis Faculty at 4p at the Mondavi Center. Though I would like to attend, unfortunately, I have to be at work during that time. So, I scoured the internet to see there was anything pertaining to this and I found this article in the Washington Post. I found it to be an interesting read and I hope all of you do as well.
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Like that Washington Post article says, a lot of it has to be Republicans' relative wealth. Money isn't everything, but there's little doubt that Democrats aren't as well-off, so are probably a little less happy on account of that.
I think another part of it may be the fact that Republicans are pre-disposed to having an ostrich mentality. They assume that everything is going great in America, and don't acknowledge any room for improvement. Instead, they usually blame others for being anti-American when they try to think of ways of increasing home ownership, reducing the number of people in prison, increasing educational opportunities, or improving our standing in the world.
Of course, everything I just said changed once a Democrat got into the White House-- now it's the Republicans' time to complain about how things are going. It'd be interesting to see if we've become less since that article was published during Bush's last year in office.
a lot of it has to be Republicans' relative wealth. Money isn't everything, but there's little doubt that Democrats aren't as well-off, so are probably a little less happy on account of that.
The relative wealth of Republicans overall seems to somehow blind many of them to the suffering of others. They think anyone can, and should, pull themselves up by their bootstraps. The ostrich mentality is a part of that, but also a (closed minded?) lack of understanding of the interconnectedness of poverty, education, crime, health, etc.
Hannity often says something to the effect of "Anyone can work hard, invest wisely, and be successful if they want to." Some people just don't have the tools to do that.
In today's market that would be:
If there's only 2 jobs for every 10 people, 8 are guaranteed to lose out.
I was being tongue-in-cheek.
A parody of "In today's dollars, that would be . . . "
Relax.
I still have a hard time believing that Republicans are generally better off than Democrats (despite their reputation). It is totally opposite in my experience -- rich folks seem to be way more liberal than poor folks.
Maybe that's more of a West Coast thing though.
Edit: From the article:
Even after adjusting for differences in income, the Pew researchers still found a marked happiness gap: Poor Republicans are, on average, happier than poor Democrats, and wealthy Republicans are happier than wealthy Democrats.
The idea that Democrats are more likely to think for themselves than Republicans is simply not true.
Do you know how many people vote Democrat because their union tells them to? Think of all the liberal special interest groups like environmental organizations or gay "rights" groups that tell their members how to vote. You obviously are not familiar with the type of campaigning Democrats do in many minority communities.
Both parties have people who vote in lockstep without considering the other side. Democrats are no more likely to think for themselves than Republicans.
I have to agree with you here, Brandon. When we paint any group of people with a broad brush, we are making a big mistake. Just because others have differing opinions doesn't mean they don't think for themselves...it simply means they reached different conclusions.
There are churches that tell their their congregants how to vote...both Dem and Rep. That's a fact. The far wings of both parties vote in lockstep no matter what. Many members of both parties are too mentally lazy to research issues, and vote according to how they are told an issue will affect them. Then there are members of both parties who vote according to their beliefs, which happen to differ, based on what they believe to be best. It's a matter of different opinions. As I always tried to teach my girls, "different doesn't mean better or worse, it just means different".
The huge success of RFO during the election pretty much proves that many, many Republicans do think for themselves!!
The reasoning behind my post was the overwhelming tendency for the Republicans in congress to vote as a block. Anyone, Coa or Snowe for example, who votes differently is threatened. (Salt to melt snow.) In NY 23 the Republican who had some beliefs which differed from the radical right was driven from the race.
From a New York Times article:
Representative Patrick J. Kennedy of Rhode Island was to meetThursday with Thomas J. Tobin, the Roman Catholic bishop of Providence, andperhaps start healing a bitter rift over whether health care legislation nowbefore Congress should restrict abortion coverage.
Instead, they postponed the meeting, and Bishop Tobin stepped up hispublic rebuke of Mr. Kennedy, accusing him Wednesday of “false advertising” fordescribing himself as a Catholic and saying he should not receive holycommunion because he supports using taxpayer money for abortions.
“If you freely choose tobe a Catholic, it means you believe certain things, you do certain things,”Bishop Tobin said on WPRO, a Providence radio station. “If you cannot do allthat in conscience, then you should perhaps feel free to go somewhere else.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/us/politics/12kennedy.html?_r=1
The Catholic church is not alone; many protestant churches do not tolerate differences of opinion. I grew up in one of those churches where members were told what to believe. We were ostracized for rejecting their premise that black people came from the curse Noah put on his son Ham. I know other people agreed with us because of previous conversations, but they did not have the courage to speak up. They did us a favor, because we found a progressive denomination which we love. We did have to adjust to having to interpret scripture of ourselves.
Of course, there are Republicans, Catholics, and religious right protestants who think for themselves and make stands which incur the wrath of the powers that be. There are, however, far to many who are content to follow the crowd and not make waves.
The reasoning behind my post was the overwhelming tendency for the Republicans in congress to vote as a block.
THIS I agree with 100%. I read your post as referring to the general population.
For the record, (and I cannot speak for the rest of the country) down here, the black churches also tell their congregants how they should vote, and why. My point is not that these things don't happen in the Republican party, but that it happens across the entire political spectrum.
Of course, there are Republicans, Catholics, and religious right protestants who think for themselves and make stands which incur the wrath of the powers that be. There are, however, far to many who are content to follow the crowd and not make waves.
This could easily be changed to say "there are Democrats, Jewish people, and agonsitcs/atheists who think for themselves and make stands that incur the wrath of the powers that be." and be just as accurate. The truth is, in the general population, ony a marginal few take wrath inducing stands, but rather take their stand at the ballot box. It's just human nature.
Edited to add: In re-reading the post under discussion, I still read it as referring to the general population.
Point well taken.
I should have been more precise in some of my statements. The point I was trying to make is that the radical right wing which is now in control of the Republican party and some of the religious right groups attempt to punish individual thought while rewarding conformity.
Yes m'am....and on that you get a ^5 from me, in total agreeement! ;-)
I don't know...when I see those Tea Partiers:
A) They look angry, not happy
B) They appear very uneducated
C) Many may be poor or uninsured but not realize they are a tool for the insurance industry
Agreed...and "C" is the explanation for the disparity. The wealthier Republicans are happier, and happily use the tea party types to keep them that way.
Point well-taken. I guess I forgot to consider the guys above pulling the strings of those puppets. They have really big smiles as they cash in on ignorance!
Well, this "wandering" Republican is really happy these days, thanks to everyone here. During the Bill Clinton days, I recall taking great joy in his many flaws and mistakes, thanks to the messages I got from Rush Limbaugh & friends, but I remember feeling kind of guilty that my thoughts and judgements were not very Christian-like. Something just didn't feel quite right (pardon the pun!) and I wasn't seeing the other side: that (while Clinton did have some personal issues) he was actually doing a pretty good job as president and led us from a deficit into a surplus so I should have given him more credit and was 100% blind to any good he did. So now I know how the Beck and Rush followers are trained to block out good.
I am happy today because my independent will and desire to be open to the truth (starting with opening my eyes to the lies that led us into the Iraq War) is a real triumph. So maybe RINO's are the happiest group of all, especially if they visit the RFO support group often!
Maybe a big factor right now is bitterness and spite for the otherside. It goes both ways but with the left having more power now and Obama being in office, I think we've all seen some sharp wickedness that has been very spiteful. I'd imagine it being difficult being happy being fed all the fear and ignorance that Limbaugh, Hannity and Beck dish out. We've all seen hostility for people or things who don't fall in line with their thinking.
In the end though, you're right people are far more concerned about their personal experiences and politics sometimes plays a smaller role with that compared to a job, family, health etc.
I'm not particularly happy although I have many reasons to be.
I remain, however, stubbornly optimistic that things will get better.