Don't Worry; Be Happy
George F. Will's column today cites a Pew study showing that conservatives are happier than liberals. He claims that this is because liberals are waiting for government to make them happy while conservatives are going out and getting it themselves. George F. Will is a moron. This from a moderately happy liberal who has a good job, earned a Ph.D. without financial aid (paying out of state tuition) and is far more astute than George F. Will. Or any of the other conservative blowholes who tell conservatives how they're supposed to think.
Conservativism is all about fear. The taxation-is-theft crowd are fearful that someone else will get the benefit of their money through some program like Pell grants or Head Start. They don't particularly care that at some point, they benefitted, directly or indirectly, from some similar program. (And by the way, every baby boomer benefitted from the money that the government poured into education after Sputnik.) The national security crowd are terrified that someone is about to attack them. Among nations, probably only China has the wherewithal to launch a credible attack on the US, but the Chinese are too astute to attack their principal trading partner. Terrorists? Sure they're out there, and they'll almost surely strike again. But the only way they can do (have done) lasting damage is by causing Americans to reconstruct their lives around fear rather than hope. And the Bush Administration feeds the fear of the terrorists for its own gain. Social conservatives are afraid that someone who is different might be recognized as a human being and thereby diminish them. They can only be positive about themselves if they have someone to be negative about.
Surveys can give bogus results, particularly when they get into questions of happiness. It's too bad that conservativism has been so weakened by association with the dim bulbs of the Bush family that it has to sell itself by claiming that its adherents are happier than others.
Conservativism is all about fear. The taxation-is-theft crowd are fearful that someone else will get the benefit of their money through some program like Pell grants or Head Start. They don't particularly care that at some point, they benefitted, directly or indirectly, from some similar program. (And by the way, every baby boomer benefitted from the money that the government poured into education after Sputnik.) The national security crowd are terrified that someone is about to attack them. Among nations, probably only China has the wherewithal to launch a credible attack on the US, but the Chinese are too astute to attack their principal trading partner. Terrorists? Sure they're out there, and they'll almost surely strike again. But the only way they can do (have done) lasting damage is by causing Americans to reconstruct their lives around fear rather than hope. And the Bush Administration feeds the fear of the terrorists for its own gain. Social conservatives are afraid that someone who is different might be recognized as a human being and thereby diminish them. They can only be positive about themselves if they have someone to be negative about.
Surveys can give bogus results, particularly when they get into questions of happiness. It's too bad that conservativism has been so weakened by association with the dim bulbs of the Bush family that it has to sell itself by claiming that its adherents are happier than others.
posted by amsterdr at 1:38 PM
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