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Want to be happy? Become a Republican


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2018 Sep 22, 5:32pm   3,673 views  23 comments

by Patrick   ➕follow (55)   💰tip   ignore  

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/07/AR2008020701904.html

A 2006 Pew Research poll found that 45 percent of Republicans describe themselves as "very happy," compared with only 30 percent of Democrats (and 29 percent of independents). This is a sizable gap and a remarkably consistent one, too. Republicans have been happier than Democrats every year since the General Social Survey, conducted biannually by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, began asking about happiness in 1972. ...

Basically, Republicans have in spades all the things that combine to make us happy. Church attendance is particularly crucial. People who attend religious services regularly are more likely to report being "very happy" than those who don't -- 43 percent vs. 26 percent (a happiness boost, by the way, that cuts across all the major religious denominations). In addition, Republicans are more likely to be married than Democrats, and married people are happier than singles. ...

If this isn't depressing enough for liberals, it turns out that some of their own pet policies are to blame for their unhappiness. Once in power, Democrats tend to focus on issues that, according to the science of happiness, have little effect on our contentment -- income equality, for instance, and racial diversity. Neither is linked to greater happiness. Countries with large disparities between rich and poor are no less happy than more egalitarian ones, studies have found. And the happiest countries in the world tend to be homogenous ones, such as Denmark and Iceland, not the ethnic melting pots that liberals celebrate.

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1   Patrick   2018 Sep 22, 8:09pm  

Also amazing that this was in the WaPo, which has thoroughly discredited itself as a source of objective unbiased news since the election.

I guess they still had some integrity back in 2008. Sad how far they have fallen.
2   LeonDurham   2018 Sep 23, 12:01pm  

I guess it's true, ignorance is bliss.
3   FortWayne   2018 Sep 23, 12:27pm  

If you are Republican when young, you have no heart.
If you are a Democrat when you are older, you have no brain.
4   mell   2018 Sep 23, 1:08pm  

FortWayne says
If you are Republican when young, you have no heart.
If you are a Democrat when you are older, you have no brain.


Similar: if you're not a socialist when you're young, you have no heart, if you're still a socialist when you're older, you have no brain.
5   clambo   2018 Sep 23, 1:19pm  

I know of several types of liberals/democrats. Several of the types are going to be upset and unhappy.

1. Broke, receiving benefits. This is your single moms getting the earned income credit ($3378 per kid in 2017), HUD housing, etc. The working poor are generally not that happy.

2. Unhappy types who think they should "contribute" something to "society"; they want to "help others" by arranging for Govt. to pick your and my pockets to "help others".

3. Liberal types who feel so superior that they know that you should not keep your money; you'll waste it on a gas guzzling SUV or something, you'll eat out at steak houses and do other things which are ruining the planet. They don't know which fish they should eat because they don't want to cause over fishing and extinction of a fish species, so they eat farmed salmon but pretend it's "wild caught." Maybe they choose "diver scallops" (divers who get the bends in Mexico using hookahs for long periods).

I know several happy liberals and they were so annoyed by the Hillary and Wasserman Shultz baloney they voted for Trump. They could tell he wasn't a typical establishment Republican either so they liked him.
6   NDrLoR   2018 Sep 23, 2:36pm  

LeonDurham says
I guess it's true, ignorance is bliss
I anticipated one of these when I saw the topic.
7   BayArea   2018 Sep 23, 3:52pm  

WaPo is one of the most biased major news outlets out there today.
8   Patrick   2018 Sep 23, 4:18pm  

jazz_music says
Because they get the economy to consist of securitization and maximize extraction by using wealth managers that shop the globe for the most favorable laws to suit any major transaction.

This is doom for wage earners.

So we must all learn to stop looking at the poor people and calling them the great evil.


Woah, @jazz_music welcome to the club!

You have pointed out the evil of globalization and how it fucks over ordinary wage earners.

Soon you'll be voting for Trump, because that is exactly Trump's main point!

Seriously, we welcome you.
9   NDrLoR   2018 Sep 23, 4:56pm  

Aphroman says
Can one be Self Aware and ignorant simultaneously?
This is what people on the left always say. I think my parents and their friends had the best idea. I never heard them discuss politics and don't believe they gave a first thought about it. As long as they were comfortable they were perfectly happy and that what life is about in the first place. And you say ignorant? Ignorant of what? Everyone is ignorant of something.
10   HeadSet   2018 Sep 23, 6:42pm  

P N Dr Lo R says
LeonDurham says
I guess it's true, ignorance is bliss
I anticipated one of these when I saw the topic.


Same here. I knew that old joke was going to pop up as soon as I read the title. Just did not know if it was going to be Leon, jazz, tim or aphro.
11   HeadSet   2018 Sep 23, 6:53pm  

People who attend religious services regularly are more likely to report being "very happy" than those who don't

I think this has more to do with socialization than the deity involved. Having a group to hang with, be it friends or extended family, adds to enjoying life. Out side of church, events like neighborhood poker parties, or family gatherings where parents and kids alike kids play football, guitar hero,or have movie night with comments, can bring the same joy.
12   NDrLoR   2018 Sep 23, 6:54pm  

jazz_music says
Shed tears for America and pray for uprising.
Sounds pretty ignorant to me.

jazz_music says
The GOP agenda got the biggest green light it ever saw.
Sounds like a plan.
13   HeadSet   2018 Sep 23, 7:01pm  

jazz_music says
HeadSet says
Same here. I knew that old joke was going to pop up as soon as I read the title. Just did not know if it was going to be Leon, jazz, tim or aphro.

Yeah, of course, like I said.

And there's nothing to say about it.


Incredible. You're defending a bromide and passing it off as a grand insight. Well, let me respond to "Ignorance is bliss" at the same level of intellect: "At least the ignorant are smart enough to be happy."
14   HeadSet   2018 Sep 23, 7:49pm  

Aphroman says
If being Republican makes one so happy, why are So many Republicans ashamed to be labeled a Republican, and instead prefer to seek cover with the fake ass label “Libertarian”?


"Libertarian" and "Republican" are two different animals. For example Libertarians believe in wide open borders while Republicans........ Hmm, you may have a point.
15   doik   2018 Sep 24, 7:58am  

Patrick says
Want to be happy? Become a Republican


Patrick, I expected better logic from you. You are clearly reversing cause and effect. Becoming a Republican won't make a person happy, nor will becoming a Democrat make a person miserable. A person who is satisfied with the status quo will, of course, support the party of the status quo. A person who is dissatisfied with the status quo will support the party of change. This is obvious.
16   Patrick   2018 Sep 24, 8:04am  

HeadSet says
People who attend religious services regularly are more likely to report being "very happy" than those who don't

I think this has more to do with socialization than the deity involved. Having a group to hang with, be it friends or extended family, adds to enjoying life. Out side of church, events like neighborhood poker parties, or family gatherings where parents and kids alike kids play football, guitar hero,or have movie night with comments, can bring the same joy.


Yes, I do think that simply belonging to a community is a huge part of why religions make people happy.
17   mell   2018 Sep 24, 8:06am  

HeadSet says
Aphroman says
If being Republican makes one so happy, why are So many Republicans ashamed to be labeled a Republican, and instead prefer to seek cover with the fake ass label “Libertarian”?


"Libertarian" and "Republican" are two different animals. For example Libertarians believe in wide open borders while Republicans........ Hmm, you may have a point.


Libertarians have many different facets. Some simply support legalization of drugs and prostitution, some but not all increased legal immigration. They are very diverse as are in fact the Republicans by now since Trump shook them up. Time for the Dems to do the same to avoid sliding into oblivion.
18   Shaman   2018 Sep 24, 8:18am  

Aphroman says

Can one be Self Aware and ignorant simultaneously?


Certainly. Socrates was the first to point this out. Here is his famous quote:
“The oracle at Delphi proclaimed that I was the wisest of all men because of all men I alone know that I know nothing.”
19   WookieMan   2018 Sep 24, 8:32am  

jazz_music says
Trump just tells people what they are hoping to hear, it's not that hard for a person like him to glean either, he wants their love. Then Trump betrays everything without a thought because there is nothing to him.


Lol!. You just described every politician in history. You think even ONE politician is different then Trump, tell me who? Yes he's "not" a politician in the normal aspect of the label, but he's doing the same shit they all do. He just actually announces what he's doing and doesn't give a shit what people think.

His behavior is totally unbecoming at many (most) times, but when Hillary spoke you knew it was all lies, but she acted like it was sincere. Trump at least will tell you if you're a dumpster fire, which in an odd way I kind of respect even though I'm not that big a fan of his.

jazz_music says
That is the damage done. Sadly, it wouldn't have happened under Clinton. At some point she might have betrayed us all, but not with glee coming out of the gate.


What damage? I keep hearing about everything being a problem. My life and most people I know are killing it. Who gives a fuck about what others think about you, Trump or America? You get in that game you're doomed as a human. Have fun, hang out with cool people and if foreigners have a problem with some US person, well usually that's a sign of jealousy. If everyone got hung up on what others thought of them, they'd have a miserable life.
20   Heraclitusstudent   2018 Sep 24, 12:15pm  

I don't know. All republicans I hear from seem pretty angry.
21   socal2   2018 Sep 24, 2:42pm  

Anecdotally, most Liberals I know are pretty unhappy.

As others pointed out, they have little sense of real community with their church, neighbors, friends and family. So they turn to government to fill the void - and that is why politics is so important to them. They are so hopeless without relying on government to tell them what to do, they think every change is literally life and death stuff.
22   Evan F.   2018 Sep 24, 2:49pm  

jazz_music says
Here we are all butt-hurt about realtors and all the other gleeful army of crooks and what did a lot of us do? --vote for one of them to lead the country into the black hole in debt space.

I love this
23   WookieMan   2018 Sep 24, 3:13pm  

jazz_music says
Meanwhile farmers are committing suicide at about twice the rate of our veterans


Where do you live? Maybe I'm in the farming hot pocket, but they are making money waaaaaayyyyyy more then the average American working only 3-4 months a year. None of the one's I know are hurting (I know a lot). Sure they're complaining about this tariff shit, but none in IL, IA, etc (corn & soybean land) are hurting unless they over leveraged against their land. And that would be their own fault for not managing debt correctly. So sure, off yourself. I'd like to see a link on this data as I just don't buy it either.

jazz_music says
So okay you got ROI, home equity, decent wages and so does your wife too.


Is that not the end game? Is this not what people work towards? What's your end game? Be poor and living in filth? I think not. I help people where I can, but some (many) don't want help or support and will just be fuck up's. Frankly, not my problem. It's a sign we have too many people in all honesty. We really have too many people that legit don't want to work a day. You can't help them. Good luck trying.

jazz_music says
Fucking A ... what damage? We haven't paid for Reagan's or Bushes tax cuts yet. Now we got the biggest millstone ever around our necks along with increased military spending, loss of net neutrality and the rest of the goddam Heritage Foundation package passed even faster than Reagan did as soon as Trump got into office. That is because there is no depth to the man just win win win. --a fucking simple-assed pig is all he is. Disgusting.


Stop reading the propaganda man. You think things are actually different under one parties control versus the other? You've lost your way if that's the case. The debt doesn't matter, it's not being paid back. Let me guess, baking a cake or not is an actual problem in this country, oh wait, it is. Genders. Illegals. None of this shit ACTUALLY matters, yet it consumes this forum and many others (not a knock Patrick, just stating how it is).

What you listed is not damage to THIS country. It's a damage to this earth and countless countries (that signed up for the Paris Accord) are making things worse more so than the USA. We're here and we're trashing the planet. Get over it or get on board. Our kids will be fine, but this earth isn't meant to last long with the way everyone treats it. So maybe find a forum with Chinese and give them shit. We're one of the cleaner societies around the globe and we're American slobs.

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