Is worrying about happiness an indulgence for rich Americans?
Happiness is a goal to which we should aspire universally. People don’t get dramatically unhappier because they get richer, once they’re above the level of subsistence. If happiness follows partisan lines, does having our party control the White House fill us with joy? There is a natural tendency for someone like me or a political journalist to be really shocked to find if you’re conservative and a liberal wins the White House it wouldn’t make you less happy. Most Americans just don’t care that much. What determines whether or not they’re happy is their private lives. Politics thankfully is not that important to people. Excerpt from “The joys of parenthood” Mar 27th 2008 From The Economist print edition Online source: http://www.economist.com/world/na/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=10924082 Why conservatives are happier than liberals IN EVERY nursery there is one child known as the Biter. Who suffers the most from this child’s delinquency? Not his classmates, whose bite marks quickly hea
