Today, in the
Washington Post, George F. Will has timely advice for the Core Constituency: Smile, you're conservative!
A survey by the Pew Research Center shows that conservatives are happier than liberals -- in all income groups. While 34 percent of all Americans call themselves "very happy," only 28 percent of liberal Democrats (and 31 percent of moderate or conservative Democrats) do, compared with 47 percent of conservative Republicans. This finding is niftily self-reinforcing: It depresses liberals.
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Well, I have to admit. His premise teed me off. He was at least partially correct. After all, most conservatives I know are either willfully or blissfully ignorant of world events, politics, the law, etc. or they have a vested interest in conservatism because they don't wanna pay taxes, period. It seems things are going their way, so why not be happy?
Will reports further that this happiness is not related to elections either, "since the survey began in 1972". This I found hard to believe, but hey, if it's a "fact" then ok. On the happy-o-meter devised by PEW, conservatives score higher. Maybe the questions the Pew Research Center asked were:
- are you happy there's a war on?
- are you happy we're killing brown people?
- are you happy we're building thousands of nuclear warheads?
- are you happy we're cutting education and instituting creationism?
- are you happy we're investigating Clinton's sex life?
- are you happy about 9/11?
So maybe conservatives really are happier since 1972. hmmmm....
Will further ignores history, willfully, I have to imagine writing this:
Conservatives understand that society in its complexity resembles a giant Calder mobile
This nuanced understanding has been put to good use in Iraq, a? The "Law of Unitended Consequences" is really biting the conservatives in the ass, right now, I think.
Then:
when they are wrong, they are happy to be so.
Riiiiight.
Then the giveaway. Conservatives believe:
happiness is an activity
So the message here? Get busy being happy and stop carping about the many errors the administration has made.
My point is mainly this: This little "pick me up" of opinion in the Washington Post comes at a strategic time. Just after Cheney shoots a man and Bush lets the ball drop on DPW (Dubai Ports World), Will is sending a message to the base. Don't forget that you still are happy. Don't forget.