Are Conservatives happier and more charitable; Obama trips up

Richard’s latest columns at Casting Stones:

April 10:

In his new book, Gross National Happiness, Dr. Brooks finds that “conservatives” are happier than “liberals.” In fact, Dr. Brooks’ research shows that conservatives have been happier than liberals for nearly four decades. Why?

Dr. Brooks’ research reveals that conservatives are more likely to be married and go to religious services on a weekly basis (twice as likely in both cases).

Conservatives are also more likely to have children, and more of them, than liberals. Dr. Brooks found parents are significantly happier than non-parents. Read the complete commentary…

April 12 :

Excerpt: “Do “conservatives” give more to charitable causes than “liberals”? Dr. Brooks, a professor at Syracuse University, was quite astounded with the results of his own research, which was so at variance with the common perception of the generous “liberal” and the Scrooge-like “conservative.” ” Read the complete entry at Casting Stones, a Beliefnet.com blog.

Obama’s elitism shows

• Text of Obama’s comments (and a disenchanted Obama supporter’s commentary.)

  “You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them… and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

  Um, now …there are gonna be a mix of people, you can go in the toughest neighborhoods, you know working-class lunch-pail folks, you’ll find Obama enthusiasts. And you can go into places where you think I’d be very strong and people will just be skeptical. The important thing is that you show up and you’re doing what you’re doing.” - Barack Obama, Apr 6, 2008

• Obama’s statements remind Richard Land of this book: What’s the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America