Right Turns by Michael Medved

Author:Michael Medved
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9781400097555
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2004-12-28T00:00:00+00:00

LESSON

24

For the Most Part, Conservatives Are Both Nicer and Happier Than Liberals

On the radio show I’ve hosted since 1996, no subject provokes more anger from callers across the country than my contention that conservatives aren’t just more astute and practical than their liberal counterparts, they are also happier, more fulfilled in their lives and their work. This argument doesn’t suggest that conservatives start off as better people, but it does make the case that they benefit from better ideas.

The Gallup Poll provides statistical backing for this conclusion. According to a Gallup press release from January 2004, “In recent years, Republicans beat Democrats in happiness each time it was measured except in 1996, when about an equal percentage of both parties said they were very happy.” Concerning the most recent survey, the Gallup organization declares “that Republicans may have found the keys to happiness, even after taking marital status and income levels into account. Sixty-two percent of Republicans surveyed say they are very happy compared with only 50 percent of Democrats.” Professor James Lindgren of Northwestern University reported similar conclusions in July 2003: “In the National Opinion Research Center General Social Survey (a standard social science database, second only to the U.S. Census in use by U.S. sociologists), the GSS asks the standard survey question about happiness in general. In the 1998–2002 GSS, extreme conservatives are much more likely to report being ‘very happy’ than extreme liberals—47.1 percent to 31.5 percent. Earlier years show a similar pattern. . . . Conservatives usually tend to report less marital unhappiness than liberals. . . . Earlier General Social Surveys found that conservatives were more satisfied with their health, their friendships, their family life, and the city or place they live—all in all, a remarkably consistent picture.”

Skeptics may dismiss this contrast between conservative contentment and liberal unease as a simple reflection of the greater wealth of those on the political right, but the data specifically contradict that interpretation. Even adjusting for economic and marital status, and making direct comparisons between respondents with similar financial resources, Gallup found that a conservative orientation correlated powerfully with greater happiness. According to the polling organization, “Deep happiness is found in roughly equal measure among a majority of adults living in most household income groups.” In other words, high income doesn’t predispose a family toward reporting happiness, but a conservative outlook does. The current prominence of bitter, angry, fabulously wealthy liberals illustrates the proposition that cheerfulness and optimism connect more reliably with political philosophy than with personal riches. Financier George Soros may control some seven billion dollars, but in the fall of 2003 Fortune described him as the “world’s angriest billionaire” for his acrimonious and obsessive drive to force George W. Bush from office. John Kerry himself, my one-time Yale colleague, may live in one of the nation’s wealthiest households (worth more than $500 million), but no one possibly could describe his personality as sunny or ebullient.

Over the years, I’ve concluded that the obvious contrast between gloomy, dour liberals

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