Happy is healthy. Do we not make better choices when we are happy? Do we not think more clearly? Being somewhat of a centrist, I usually find when I obsess on something, pick it apart, or insert emotion and feelings, I usually end up in some mild form of irrational despair. I think it is true that Conservatives think in a more simplistic way, not that they have inferior intellect. It just means they compartmentalize and narrow-in on relevant issues with disregard to obstacles and irrelevant facts. Minimalism and simplicity are the road the wisdom. Is that not so?
I tend to distrust those who make things more complicated than they are. I am not particularly fond of the far right and I am also...

Happy is healthy. Do we not make better choices when we are happy? Do we not think more clearly? Being somewhat of a centrist, I usually find when I obsess on something, pick it apart, or insert emotion and feelings, I usually end up in some mild form of irrational despair. I think it is true that Conservatives think in a more simplistic way, not that they have inferior intellect. It just means they compartmentalize and narrow-in on relevant issues with disregard to obstacles and irrelevant facts. Minimalism and simplicity are the road the wisdom. Is that not so?
I tend to distrust those who make things more complicated than they are. I am not particularly fond of the far right and I am also not particularly fond of the far left but it has nothing to do with cognitive ability or whether they are happy or not.
If the news story is true and Conservatives really are more happy, then I think that is interesting and means something very profound.

Our family dynamics reflect this phenomenon well. You have to go back to my mom's family of origin. She grew up mentally ill, and they were all aware of it. When she ended up getting in a bind, the help from family was extremely limited both in terms of resources and how long they sustained the help. They are all Limbaugh conservatives. This group led by my well-to-do uncle (a self-made man) says that family and the private sector is responsible for caring for the ill, unemployable, the elderly, etc. YET, instead of helping their family, they let the government do it. They let Medicaid pay for their father's nursing home care. They let SSI and other programs take care of their mentally ill ...

Our family dynamics reflect this phenomenon well. You have to go back to my mom's family of origin. She grew up mentally ill, and they were all aware of it. When she ended up getting in a bind, the help from family was extremely limited both in terms of resources and how long they sustained the help. They are all Limbaugh conservatives. This group led by my well-to-do uncle (a self-made man) says that family and the private sector is responsible for caring for the ill, unemployable, the elderly, etc. YET, instead of helping their family, they let the government do it. They let Medicaid pay for their father's nursing home care. They let SSI and other programs take care of their mentally ill sister. They epitomize conservatives turning their back on family and practicing hypocrisy.
Contrast that with my "bleeding heart" where I raised my brother and sister without child support throughout their teens. I went into high debt to do it. Furthermore, this liberal can't neglect the poor in good conscience or make rationalizations because growing up ultra poor raises your awareness too much. Thus, I work in a job well below my potential pay, but in service to other poor people trying to get through college and better themselves.

Likewise, dmegivern, I never could be content in a job I did just for money - it had to be something world-changing enough that I would do it without pay if I could.
And likewise, papananook, I just don't think I have what it takes to be happy without being a part of something radical enough to end some suffering. I can't imagine not caring - it just is part of the package.
Some grief comes with caring. I ache sometimes, and have to turn off the news. But I'll be damned if I'll turn my back (OK, wait, yes, I'm a pastor and no, I don't mean it literally - it's a figure of speech). I want to figure out how to do more with what I've got! I want the applecart upset, as long as it ignores th...

Likewise, dmegivern, I never could be content in a job I did just for money - it had to be something world-changing enough that I would do it without pay if I could.
And likewise, papananook, I just don't think I have what it takes to be happy without being a part of something radical enough to end some suffering. I can't imagine not caring - it just is part of the package.
Some grief comes with caring. I ache sometimes, and have to turn off the news. But I'll be damned if I'll turn my back (OK, wait, yes, I'm a pastor and no, I don't mean it literally - it's a figure of speech). I want to figure out how to do more with what I've got! I want the applecart upset, as long as it ignores the institutional side of poverty and pain. And I don't give a rip if it's addressed by the right or the left, Dems, Reps, whomever - I just want to see it addressed, and full tilt.

I was rescued from a life a poverty by government educational programs like Head Start and Upward Bound. I was fed by school lunch and government cheese. No conservatives rushed in to help me as a parentified child caring for two mentally ill parents and five younger siblings almost alone until Upward Bound stepped in. Our LDS church brought us a rin of three types of popcorn every Christmas.

Through a government-funded program, I give 150% to getting my students caught up enough educationally to graduate from college and get out of poverty. My survival and ultimately my middle class status is entirely attributable to government intervention. This allowed me to rescue my yongest brother ...

I was rescued from a life a poverty by government educational programs like Head Start and Upward Bound. I was fed by school lunch and government cheese. No conservatives rushed in to help me as a parentified child caring for two mentally ill parents and five younger siblings almost alone until Upward Bound stepped in. Our LDS church brought us a rin of three types of popcorn every Christmas.

Through a government-funded program, I give 150% to getting my students caught up enough educationally to graduate from college and get out of poverty. My survival and ultimately my middle class status is entirely attributable to government intervention. This allowed me to rescue my yongest brother and sister. I wish it could have been enough to prevent my brother from committing suicide at age 23, but no.

I defy you to find a single "bad" choice have made with my life. Poor people can't afford to make any mistakes at all or they do not escape. No youthful indescretions are allowed whatsoever. Cough, Bush.

Thank you for sharing this! It is priceless! Several thoughts:

What a shame it is that people who are where you started out have critics running them down instead of cheerleaders building them up!

You have worked incredibly hard AND you have made use of government assistance. We are so polarized that the right thinks the left means personal grit is unimportant, while the left hears the right saying personal grit is all that matters. The truth is that emerging from poverty takes both, and neither is sufficient alone.

Your example also gives an excellent insight into the fact that people who are poor are often not so because they made bad decisions. All your decisions were good...

Thank you for sharing this! It is priceless! Several thoughts:

What a shame it is that people who are where you started out have critics running them down instead of cheerleaders building them up!

You have worked incredibly hard AND you have made use of government assistance. We are so polarized that the right thinks the left means personal grit is unimportant, while the left hears the right saying personal grit is all that matters. The truth is that emerging from poverty takes both, and neither is sufficient alone.

Your example also gives an excellent insight into the fact that people who are poor are often not so because they made bad decisions. All your decisions were good, and you still had to fight with all your strength because of others decisions that put you at a different starting line than most. How very bigoted it is to lump all poor people together as people of "bad decisions"!

And, your example also shows how private sector aid is uneven - reaching some, missing most - and VASTLY inadequate for the task.

Time to abandon our prejudice and give people tools to build a life.

dmegivern, you are an American hero. I hope you tell this story a lot! I feel honored to have heard it.

Masbury: ***"let's fix the problem party"***?

Do you really trust either party wants to "fix" problems? People fix problems, Government tends to create problems and make them worse. I see the parties as the 'let's create a bigger problem for the world party' and the 'let's create a bigger problem for America party. I do not think fixing problems is either party's agenda. The problems *are* the agenda.

I think I agree with Bitdrifter. If I had to choose a party by what the government does, I think I would choose the party that does the least, not that the Republicans are that party. They do just as much damage.

You give us 2 choices, the "leave me alone party" and the "let's fix the pro...

Masbury: ***"let's fix the problem party"***?

Do you really trust either party wants to "fix" problems? People fix problems, Government tends to create problems and make them worse. I see the parties as the 'let's create a bigger problem for the world party' and the 'let's create a bigger problem for America party. I do not think fixing problems is either party's agenda. The problems *are* the agenda.

I think I agree with Bitdrifter. If I had to choose a party by what the government does, I think I would choose the party that does the least, not that the Republicans are that party. They do just as much damage.

You give us 2 choices, the "leave me alone party" and the "let's fix the problem party". Given those choices and knowing what I know about the ability of government to fix problems, I'll take the "leave me alone" party. Now, if only someone will tell me which party that is.

If this rationalization makes me happy or conservative, then I can't help it. I cannot stand by while people suffer pretending that my vote for one party or the other is doing them any good. I usually plan my vacations around election day anyway.

Masbury, thank you so much for your honorable comments. I didn't see them immediately, because my Clipmarks mobile does not allow much exploration and has limited posts available. However, when I got on the computer I saw them and I was very touched. I spent most of my life being looked down on for being poor. It has been an exceptional long and difficult journey out of poverty, and I am so grateful to the people who support government programming, because without them, I would still be in poverty. Heck, I might not even be alive. Herman Melville has a piece called roughly, "What Redburn Saw at Lancelott's Hay" that tells the story of life before social services roughly 1850. If you can read...

Masbury, thank you so much for your honorable comments. I didn't see them immediately, because my Clipmarks mobile does not allow much exploration and has limited posts available. However, when I got on the computer I saw them and I was very touched. I spent most of my life being looked down on for being poor. It has been an exceptional long and difficult journey out of poverty, and I am so grateful to the people who support government programming, because without them, I would still be in poverty. Heck, I might not even be alive. Herman Melville has a piece called roughly, "What Redburn Saw at Lancelott's Hay" that tells the story of life before social services roughly 1850. If you can read it, it is amazing. I used to assign it to my social policy students to show what life before public concern was like. Basically, a woman and her three children starve to death with many people knowing about it. But, they justify their deaths, because she was a single mom.