Self-starters vs Cry Babies - Whose Happier?

Arthur C. Brooks' new book called Gross National Happiness: Why Happiness Matters to America and How We Can Get More of It - attempts to explain why conservatives are happier than liberals.

"You find that all the way back to the early 1970s, as long as we’ve been keeping data on the subject, conservatives have consistently shown greater life satisfaction than liberals,” Brooks tells Newsmax. "

"In one study, people who identified themselves as conservative were nearly twice as likely to say they were very happy as people who said they are liberal. In contrast, Brooks says, “Liberals are less likely to be optimistic about the future, and they’re more likely to say they feel like a failure.” '

"The question is, why? "

' “What you find is that freedom, including economic freedom, religious freedom, and political freedom, push happiness up hugely,” Brooks says, “But more voluntary personal freedom about morality drives happiness down.” '

"Thus, if the government limits moral freedom, it reduces happiness because it limits political freedom. “But what you find is when people voluntarily limit their own moral freedom by saying they think premarital sex is wrong, taking drugs is wrong, or abortion is wrong, they’re much happier people,” says Brooks, a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute."

' “People, as they get conservative, get happier, and as they get happier, they also get more conservative,” Brooks says. “They get happier as they get more conservative because they adopt a worldview that says that things are possible through hard work, and that mobility is not just a hollow promise.” '

"Brooks says the fact that conservatives are by nature more self-reliant is an important factor. "

' “It’s unseemly for conservatives to say, Woe is me; I’m a victim; the world’s oppressing me,” he says. “Conservatives aren’t supposed to say that. One of the fundamental tenets of the conservative character is to strike out on your own, to try to chase after your own fate. Just doing that will make you happier. You’re also more likely to become a successful person if you take that course.” '

People who are self-starters, hard-working and enjoy the challenges of life are happier than people who are dependent on government handouts and feel like victims. The question is why are there so many of victim mentality? Could it be our schools are creating a nation of cry babies and sheep? I think our government run schools have a lot to do with it especially if the parents at home are also of the victim mentality. (Read at Newsmax.com)