We sang a tune when I was a young child growing up in religion, and the majority of you are probably familiar with it now:
I’ve got the joy, happiness, joy, delight, over in my heart ( Where? * )
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Down in my brain ( Where? )
Down in my brain
I’ve got the happiness, joy, delight, joy, over in my center
Down in my brain to staaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyy
*The higher-pitched you say the” Where”? the better.
The Harris-Walz campaign has chosen to use the word” Joy” in its attempts to contrast the GOP’s and the Democrats ‘ messages. The idea is, of course, that Republicans only want to persecute people and look back while Democrats offer an exciting eyesight that looks forward.
The contrast between a angry, scowling Donald Trump and a major JD Vance is supposed to be Kamala Harris giggling like a wild lion and Tim Walz lumbering around backstage like a Chris Farley personality. Only Democrats may get away with this kind of discrimination.
According to George Hawley of City Journal,” The Harris campaign has attempted to bring several stereotypes of the two parties to the forefront of the government’s minds.” Democrats want to be seen as the celebration of the future, welcoming change, and positive. They seek to present Republicans, by comparison, as embittered, backward animals, clinging to undeserved privileges. Accepting this duality is not absurd for anyone to think that the right-wing uncle trope, which ruines family gatherings with political tirades, has become a recurring theme in popular culture.
It’s a story as ancient as day, too. Think about garrulous, angry Archie Bunker getting his comeuppance from an intelligent, smirking democratic. ( Granted, often the lefties learned lessons on Norman Lear’s shows, too. ) The remaining loves to color us conservatives as unhappy and offended, while leftists are complimentary and fun-loving.
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Would the prejudices actually exist? Where’s the pleasure in Antifa protests? Where’s the joy in transgenders and non-binaries berating others for not using the” correct” pronouns? Where is the delight in destroying art and building sites in the name of supporting left-wing reasons?
Hawley writes that” this explanation of the functions is not just an oversimplification—it is wrong. Conservatives regularly claim higher levels of happiness and life satisfaction than liberals, despite the Left’s preference for conservatism as a conservative philosophy.
Relevant:  , The World Wants More Content Warriors— And I Know Where to Find Them
For about 50 years, a document called the General Social Survey ( GSS) has measured the enjoyment level of interviewees. Republicans regularly experience significantly higher levels of happiness each year. Democrats claim to have more emotional problems, according to Hawkley:
In 2018 and 2021, the study asked:” In the past seven time, how often have you been bothered by mental problems such as feeling stressed, unhappy or angry”? The possible actions were “never”, “rarely”,” often”, “often”, and “always”. On this estimate, we just witnessed a dramatic boost in self-reported psychological problems among Democrats, but no among Republicans.
It’s not just the GSS monitoring more delight among liberals. A 2008 Pew poll showed that Republicans are better off financially, like their societies more, and have deeper religious belief — and in those results, gender and race did n’t play a major role.
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Family development is another factor that accounts for traditional happiness. According to a survey conducted by YouGov and Deseret News for 2022, conservatives ‘ desire to belong in nuclear families was a bigger source of joy.
” On the family front, conservative Americans ( not politicians, admittedly ) have a major advantage”, Brad Wilcox of the Institute for Family Studies wrote of the study, “in large part because they are more likely to embrace the family-first values and virtues that steer them towards wedlock and fulfilling family lives”.
Wilcox even noted:
The study goes on to discover that liberals are approximately 19 portion points less likely to be” completely happy” with their “mental wellness” than conservatives. The issue, however, seems particularly acute for democratic people, who show the lowest levels of satisfaction with their lives and mental wellbeing. Indeed, only 15 % of liberal women in the age group surveyed are” completely satisfied” with their lives, compared to 31 % of conservative women, likewise, only 15 % of liberal women are” completely satisfied” with their mental health, compared to 35 % of conservative women.
A higher level of joy is boosted by various factors, such as conservatives ‘ belief that they have more control over their lives and less desire to investigate social injustice. Democrats claim that when Republicans win elections, they experience higher levels of stress, and that conservatives have a greater sense of purpose ( aside from politics ) than liberals.
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As a Democrat may say, believe the technology. If these reports bear something out, it’s that liberals tend to have higher levels of happiness, and while happiness and joy are different issues, they’re connected.
Hawley concludes:
Regardless of the underlying reason for the happiness gap, its existence refutes the idea that conservatives are squaring off against confident, optimistic progressives. The existence of these stereotypes suggests that Republican politicians and the conservative movement misinterpret their messages. Conservatives as a whole are not represented by angry social media voices, and they should n’t serve as a model for the American Right. As Ronald Reagan demonstrated, conservatism is most successful when it presents itself as a positive, cheerful political philosophy. Conservatives should n’t share their joy in their personal lives with others, either.
Amen! Let’s reflect joy as conservatives from here on out, no matter what happens.