<p>Chew this over:</p>
<p>It is part of the painful process of history that people are always made by the world they reject and that the rage they express is in large measure rage at themselves.</p>
<p>V. S. Naipaul</p>
<p>Wow, don’t you guys have some out of line Republican you can beat up on.</p>
<p>I believe it’s the liberals or progressives who believe change is possible.
That’s true optimism. The cynical world view of the Republicans that everyone is out for themselves and too bad for the little guy is not optimistic, just opportunistic.</p>
<p>
Now that’s a cartoonish view, if I’ve ever heard one. It’s the people who really believe in the system, who make the economic engine work, that provide the opportunities that so many pious soup kitchen ladlers claim to want for their ladlees.</p>
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</p>
<p>This must be a regional phenomenom. I could flip-flop -one of those dem attributes- the list and get to a situation closer to MY reality. The Republicans I know are hard working, salt-of-the-earth Americans who do not expect handouts to survive. That does not stop them to be conscious of the less fortunate as they give both in services and in cash. When I participated in a couple of Habitat projects, the people who hauled materials and swung the hammers were far from liberal minded. They may have driven their SUV over the border, but the size came in handy. All the while, the safer Honda Civics remained parked in the garage of … you can guess whom! While many parenst showed up to help the students, only one teacher did! On the other hand, the tycoons took a couple of giant blisters to their corporate ivory towers. </p>
<p>For some teachers, teaching is a vocation or a career; for others it is a job. Feel free to decree that THEY all care in the same way … All the while I’ll keep on pointing the finger on how LITTLE they truly care about OTHERS … you know the ones that do not count: students and parents. </p>
<p>I read the attacks on Corporate America, and fail to understand the vitriol thrown at this attribute of Capitalistic America. I guess that some of you still believe that Socialism is the best cure against Fascism. Since when is the open criticism of people who devote their life to feed their family with a corporate job so … caring. </p>
<p>As far as I know, there is no bigger oxymoron than Progressive Liberals. A bunch of dreamers who are longing for the return of socialism and hopelessly stuck in the sixties are not exactly progressive. </p>
<p>Oh well, this matter none. Your side knows it all!</p>
<p>“Nowadays, the fact that the Democrats are an angry (I would say, hateful) party is one of the commonplaces of political commentary. And, no doubt, the Democrats are angrier now than usual. But it seems likely that the fact that Democrats tend, statistically, to be unhappy people makes that party especially susceptible to appeals based on anger and hate.”</p>
<p>Just a little quote from Driver’s favorite blog. The last line is indication of upcoming Republican strategy and buzzwords. So the intent is to incite and distract with anger rather than engage in meaningful discussion of policy, something their base can’t or doesn’t want to do.</p>
<p><<It is part of the painful process of history that people are always made by the world they reject and that the rage they express is in large measure rage at themselves.>></p>
<p>Yeah, I’m so p----- off at myself that I went hunting farm-raised birds and shot my friend in the face and then decided not to tell even the White House Press Secretary for 12 hours. (Not that I’ve held a press conference in three and a half years, anyhow). Really ticks me off when I do stupid things like this. I should stop. It’s making me into an arrogant ■■■■■■■ and I’m just so enraged all the time. I should stop rejecting the world and know that it’s just me being me.</p>
<p>ugh</p>
<p>driver, our family is one who “makes the economic engine work.”
My husband is in the financial industry, full of Republicans. I’m quite familiar Republican attitudes, as we live and work among them. This is not a “cartoonish view.” I wish it were.
We soup kitchen ladlers are sometimes the same people making six or seven figure incomes and who might actually care about those who are less fortunate. Go figure.</p>
<p>I believe in the system. Unfortunately, the present adminstration would love to dismantle it. Ironically, they just keep growing the deficit.</p>
<p>Liz, </p>
<p>You have 4 self identified Democrats/liberals in this thread who have professed their anger and ire at the state of <em>the world</em> in part and in total. The point is not being challenged down-wind. </p>
<p>People are not making this stuff up about Dems its just the way it tends to appear.</p>
<p>Oh, you’re late to the party again, Liz. The grand, overarching “ANGRY DEMOCRATS” theme was articulated by our grand leader, Ken Mehlman, a couple of weeks ago. His “strategy” has little to do with this Pew study, though. Andrew Kohut is one of the reliably liberal pointy-heads you can hear on NPR and PBS, and this particular aspect of happiness index goes back to Nixon days.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>momo2,</p>
<p>Don’t feel so bad; the VP did the same thing a couple days ago. </p>
<p>It could happen to anyone.</p>
<p>Arm-chair psychology aside, I’d like to point out that reading the complete report is a bit more informative than pie in sky sermonizing. For instance, this:
sounds good.</p>
<p>But then buried waaaaaaaaaaay back in the complete report:
</p>
<p>And I might as well point out that what the study essentially is doing is measuring very happy vs. not, which in otherwords (very happy) vs. (pretty happy + not very happy). Happy is happy, and I don’t personally see why they chose to lump pretty happy with sad.</p>
<p>You’re picking nits, Rugburn. Five percentage points constitute a landslide in elections. 28%R, 23%D, and 19%I still supports the general theme of the study. Even poor Republicans are happier and more optimistic than their counterparts. And that info wasn’t really buried, either. ;)</p>
<p>To put a finer point on it: Did you notice that a higher percentage of the Republicans in the two middle income quartiles–$30K-$50K and $50-75K–are still happier than their miserable, whiny martyr Democrat counterparts in the highest (over $75K) quartile? 44%, 45%, as opposed to 41%</p>
<p>Happiness is overrated. And I’m not buying the happiness to income correlation because I just read a study that says the opposite. I think we need to quantify optimism on a continuum between realistic and delusional. My guess is that the Republicans would fall heavily into the delusional category, or at least the Republicans that can’t see the problem with Incurious George which seems to be most or all of the Repubs that haunt this forum.</p>
<p>Seems a little unkind, Liz. I have admitted to my conservative inclinations, yet I don’t view myself as oblivious to the problems in this country or the world. I know many conservatives and liberals who dedicate time and treasure to helping in low income areas nearby. I wish everyone would just cut each other a little slack, instead of going for the jugular all the time. It can be interesting to read other points of view, but it’s so hard to cut through the name calling on both sides. fwiw, I don’t see any benefit in constantly bringing up Chappaquidick, by the way. It’s over and there are more important things to discuss.</p>
<p>Liz,
I think you make the study’s point perfectly. You think happiness is overrated. It then follows logically that you would find optimists delusional. However, others would say that life is tough enough, without taking a sour, pessimistic outlook…if you’re going that route, why bother living…because it just, you know, sucks. Which leads to a sense of futility in life, more depression, and a corresponding inability to effect all the positive things that you want. </p>
<p>Why is it that Republicans “haunt” this place (what do you do here…flit)? Should we all go away and leave you to your communal misery?</p>
<p>But remember, we liberals that talk about caring for others are cut down by people on this site every chance certain posters get- for being “liberals”, which they refuse to define, by the way</p>
<p>“But remember, we liberals that talk about caring for others are cut down by people on this site every chance certain posters get- for being “liberals”, which they refuse to define, by the way”</p>
<p>Because you THINK you care about others. You are so wrapped up in your arbitrary self-defined do-good little world that you fail to see or refuse to see the merits of anyone else’s positions. While you see Microsoft and Bill Gates as mere expressions of corporate fascism, others may see the eleemosynary accomplishments. It’s a matter of choice. </p>
<p>Further, we do not need to define liberals for you. Is it that hard to do it for yourself. Just as what I posted a few weeks ago … the typical MO and credo … Someone ought to do this or that. Always someone else. </p>
<p>It suffice to point out who the liberals that give your group such a bad name are. I do not consider all liberals to be bad. I have the utmost respect for a number of them. However, that does not stop me considering liberals such as Randi Weingarten or Reg Weaver to be despicable human beings. How do you expect anyone to respect an organization when it has strayed so far from its purpose and is led by thieving scum? </p>
<p>You insist in seeing everything in black and white -or red versus blue. You pretend to care about people and pretend that the other side doesn’t. Yet, I would be extremely happy to compare our mutual contributions to the less fortunate, and this at any time.</p>
<p>“There is a wisdom that is woe.”</p>
<p>–Herman Melville</p>
<p>How can anyone be happy with Bush in power?</p>