Why Are Liberals So Miserable?
By: Stephen Moore
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Source: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
I'm the kind of guy
Who never used to cry
The world is treatin' me bad
Misery
-- The Beatles
Replacing former President Donald Trump with President Joe Biden was supposed to bring joy to the land from sea to sea. We were going to be a united people at last. Every problem known to man would get solved by cradle-to-grave government. Biden was even going to save us from the rise of the oceans.
But just the opposite: A survey by the University of Chicago found that record percentages of people in 2021 described themselves as "unhappy."
For most of the past 50 years, about 1 in 10 people have described themselves as unhappy. In 2021, 1 in 4 say they are unhappy. Typically, almost 1 in 3 say they are "very happy," and now less than 1 in 5 do. The happiness index is falling like a stone. People are depressed.
Gee, I wonder why the public is so glum all of a sudden.
Let me count the ways. First, there is isolation and loneliness from lockdowns, stay-at-home orders and travel restrictions. Then there is out-of-control crime and a significant rise in business failures (from lockdowns), both clearly associated with depression. People are still worried about their health two years into the pandemic that Biden promised to shut down. The border is out of control.
Then there is the financial stress on families from everything being more expensive. Children are depressed because schools are still doing remote learning or they are stuck wearing masks for eight hours a day. The "woke" movement has people feeling like they are tied inside a social straitjacket. Nothing is funny anymore. Don't you dare say an off-color joke or you will be banished.
People are afraid to laugh at anything for fear of offending someone somewhere. When was the last time you saw a funny movie?
But here's what's most interesting about the results of the happiness survey. The people with the most significant happiness deficiencies are Democratic voters. Liberals are miserable. Only 1 in 6 Democratic voters say they are "very happy." Almost twice as many Republicans say they are "very happy."
Why is that? I have several admittedly unproven hypotheses. I will toss them out, and readers can decide for themselves if they agree or disagree.
First, liberals are much less religious, patriotic and interested in getting married and having children than conservatives. It's a Grand Canyon-sized division between liberals and conservatives. I'd venture to say that the love of country, God and family make people happy.
If you don't believe in these things, you will likely believe in false idols, such as big government, as your savior. That's hardly a path to happiness.
Liberals are less likely to be working and more likely to be on government assistance. But every study shows that work is highly associated with happiness. Giving a person a fish rather than teaching a person to fish leads to very different life satisfaction outcomes.
Liberals also live their lives in fear. Liberals are much more likely to believe that global warming will doom us than are conservatives. To listen to some of the more fanatical climate change worriers, they seem almost to want global warming to happen so we can pay penance for our sins to the planet. Similarly, from the start of the pandemic until recently, liberals were twice as likely to be "very worried" about COVID-19 than conservatives. There is something sociologically different about how liberals view risks than conservatives.
Finally, there is the geographical separation between conservatives camped in red states and liberals camped in blue states -- the two Americas. Blue states shut down their economies. They shut down restaurants, schools, parks, theaters, tennis and basketball courts, playgrounds, beaches, bars and any other place where people could, God forbid, have fun.
Amid the dark days of the pandemic, I traveled to New York, California and Florida. New York and California were zombie zones. If people saw you on the street walking toward you, they would lift their masks and swerve so as not to get anywhere near you. They would scowl or look away.
In Florida, people got on with their lives. They took reasonable health precautions, but they got out. You could tell that Floridians were happier than New Yorkers and Californians. It made New Yorkers and Californians all the more miserable and indignant when they saw pictures and videos of the Floridians who were not planted in their living rooms in the fetal position. Some were even partying on the beaches -- swimming, laughing, drinking, mingling. How dare they? And the final insult for the triply depressed liberals was that the Floridians had death rates from the virus that were no different from those living in the liberal states that outlawed fun and most human activity.
Not so long ago, those on the left of the political spectrum were the partiers -- the wild and crazy crowd: sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Live and let live. Now leftists are a bunch of judgmental prudes like nuns in a convent.
And they suffer from a severe happiness deficit. They got Biden in office, and now they're still miserable. Given the damage that Biden has done to our country in just one year in office, one could conclude that it serves them right.
Or perhaps they just miss hating Trump.
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I remember a time when travel restrictions because of Covid were racist. I guess having somebody who has a history of disparaging blacks in office alleviated that.
And when there aren't lockdowns there are the Nazi throw back of you must show your papers.
I LOVE how that has worked out so far. In 13 months there have been more "Covid related" deaths WITH A VACCINATION than there were without a vaccination. By his own standards Biden should resign.
That's what happens when you shut down the wall because, well, because Trump put it in place.
Children are depressed because schools are still doing remote learning or they are stuck wearing masks for eight hours a day.
How about the Laudoun School District telling kids that if they show up without a mask they will be arrested for trespassing. That would have me depressed as a kid. Also, remember this is the same school district that moved a sex offender because of a sexual assault only to have the offender do it again.
Maybe that's why they hate Trump so much. He took away their free shit.
So did many of the fear mongering fools on the left. They made sure they got their vacations in Florida then returned to their dystopia's ranting and raving about how bad it was while they enjoyed a beer on the beach and swam in the ocean.
Why Are Liberals So Miserable?
That's a great question for this site's liberals. The constant death wishing and fantasies about killing people, glee when someone from the "other side" dies, racist and misogynist attacks against conservatives and the deluge of petty personal attacks that dominate numerous groups on this board point to serious mental health issues among liberals.
For some reason I read most of the seeded article and not unexpectedly it's pretty ridiculous. For example I know of no evidence that shows that most Americans have objected to measures to diminish covid. That's a right wing trumpism thing
The rest of the article is equally stupid
Stop trolling
When that happens on NT the trolling accusation is the new racist accusation.
I can't wait to hear some responses although I doubt anyone will admit to being miserable all the time even though there is plenty of evidence to support that they are. If anyone does respond I have a feeling it will include Trump and/or Republicans the reason they are always miserable.
In reality I get the feeling the reason they are always miserable is they can't control everything around them and that makes them anxious. There is nothing worse than living in a world where people have ideas that don't coincide with their beliefs.
Yep, got another one today from one of our resident liberal internet rambos. Three up votes last I checked so they are squaded up with hate per usual. ......
A collective and massive inferiority complex ..... poor bubbas.
Why Are Liberals So Miserable?
They weren't breast fed as babies?
Well, looks like a non-response is a response... I don't count the current liberal responses to this as responses, just non-responsive emotional outbursts...
Since nobody really wants to respond the statements must be true... The points made must be valid...
The truth is a hard thing to refute....
Did you expect anything but emotional outbursts from them? Come on some of them even post memes as "fact".
Liberals are not miserable. Conservatives are and for good reason. They bought the ticket on 'the train' whose first stop was at Stormy Who and last stop was Hang Mike Pence with nothing except bull crap and cesspool flotsam in between. Went through all of that and still never got to watch Jared and Ivanka do the duet pole dance.
Good to see at least one liberal has a sense of humor.
No problem, no way Trump wins, no way ..... wait a minute ..... DOH!
And it's obvious right here on NT. Just look at the volume of "but Trummmmpppp" seeds there are. And all by the same group of people.
Not even close and it’s pretty damn sad.
A byproduct of shutting down all the loony bins and letting them out on the street
Yep and they hang out in public libraries, using tax payer provided computers to post on internet blogs .....
"But a provocative new study shows that people who live in countries with liberal governments are happier on average than those who live in countries with conservative governments. As for the connection between an individual's personal political leanings and his/her happiness, conservatives tend be happier than liberals.
Hmmm. That suggests the best of all possible worlds, happiness-wise, is to be a conservative who lives in a liberal country."
The Surprising Reason Conservatives Are Happier Than Liberals
Interesting that conservatives aren't all that happy living in a conservative country.
What really seems to make conservatives happy is having an 'other' to bitch about. Forget reality. Wait, forget reality, 1972 and windowpane. Happy times.