New Study Shows Conservatives Are Happier Than Liberals

A new NYU study shows that conservatives are happier than liberals, the explanation being that conservatives rationalize social and economic inequalities. Irrespective of marital status, income or church attendance, right wingers report greater satisfaction and well-being. Their ability to rationalize life’s inequities as “not really that big a problem” affords them the luxury of indifference.

Sounds good. I’d be more upbeat if I weren’t upset that the Myanmar government is creating obstacles for aid to reach those in need while people are hanging onto trees and floating around until they die. I’d surely be more lighthearted if instead of forgetting names of movies and people, I could forget about the genocide in Darfur, AIDS in Africa, that over 40,000 of our troops are ill-equipped to fight, that too many homeless are mentally disturbed and should be hospitalized, that we’re in a pointless war, that Cambodian children can no longer get free rice breakfasts at schools, that women are being trafficked, that there’s no reason to be optimistic about the situation in the Middle East, that too many Americans don’t have health care and that we can’t be sure we won’t get another Bush as president.

But those of us who are blessed/cursed with Liberal Caring Syndrome will be looking for ways to get aid to Burma while mean Ann Coulter flips her hair around, untroubled by these disasters.