The strange fact of the matter is that the hard-core liberals and conservatives in America are actually some of our happiest citizens. According to the National Opinion Research Center in 2004, in spite of all their bile, 35% of people who said they are "extremely liberal" also reported being "very happy" with their lives--versus 22% of people who were just "liberal" and 28% of moderates. At the same time, a whopping 48% of people who were "extremely conservative" were very happy (compared with 43% of non-extreme conservatives).I don't know if his conclusion necessarily follows - rather those who are extremely liberal or extremely conservative are probably very well "centered" in their lives - they are at the center of their respective universes. Thus they are able to keep out unhappy thoughts like "Hmmmm. Maybe I'm wrong about this."
As much as you might prefer not to believe it, the "politics of happiness" is actually the politics of intolerance, nasty sloganeering and the screaming pundits on cable television.
That's my theory anyway.
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