Republican = Happy; Democrat = Miserable

[whottt]

http://www.livescience.com/culture/091217-happy-state-list.html


Here are the 50 U.S. states (and the District of Columbia) in order of their well-being:

1. Louisiana
2. Hawaii
3. Florida
4. Tennessee
5. Arizona
6. Mississippi
7. Montana
8. South Carolina
9. Alabama
10. Maine
11. Alaska
12. North Carolina
13. Wyoming
14. Idaho
15. South Dakota
16. Texas
17. Arkansas
18. Vermont
19. Georgia
20. Oklahoma
21. Colorado
22. Delaware
23. Utah
24. New Mexico
25. North Dakota
26. Minnesota
27. New Hampshire
28. Virginia
29. Wisconsin
30. Oregon
31. Iowa
32. Kansas
33. Nebraska
34. West Virginia
35. Kentucky
36. Washington
37. District of Columbia
38. Missouri
39. Nevada
40. Maryland
41. Pennsylvania
42. Rhode Island
43. Massachusetts
44. Ohio
45. Illinois
46. California
47. Indiana
48. Michigan
49. New Jersey
50. Connecticut
51. New York




It explains so much.

Discuss.

[MiamiHeat]

lmao

Louisiana, Florida, alabama, missisippi,

the entire fucking south is on the top 15 lol.

plus, they are more open with their racism and religion.

MORNIN NAGGER! on their way to Church

[whottt]

you should stick with sticking it to timvp

Don't kill the messenger.

It's not about money, those states at the bottom of the list are among the wealthiest and hte ones at the top are poor.

[whottt]

lmao

Louisiana, Florida, alabama, missisippi,

the entire fucking south is on the top 15 lol.

plus, they are more open with their racism and religion.

MORNIN NAGGER! on their way to Church

It's not necessarily about race:

http://www.blackdemographics.com/


The blackest part of the country is also well represented on the happiest part. Including the #1 spot.


In fact the only thing that more or less tracks that list that is red and blue states in Presidential elections.


Well that, and wealth stratification, but since the most extreme wealth stratification occurs in overwhelmingly Democratic/Liiberal controlled territories I didn't figure that needed to be mentioned. I mean I've mentioned that before.


I mean check out the class separation of DC and Manhattan, the two Democratic strongholds. Washington DC has never anything but Democrat, and Manhattan has been Democrat since about 1920 or so. THey also rank I believe 1 and 2 on the income disparity list.


I think the way the dynamic works is this:

All the poor in liberal cities/areas hate their lives due to the stratification....the rich in this same cities are very good at pretending to be sympathetic to those poor and do a fantastic job of telling them what they want to hear. That is the way the Democratic pary works...IMO.

The rich saying hey, taxes are the key, the poor say, sounds good to me...it never gets back to them. It just makes the governments more money and destroys the middle class.

Which is why it's base is both the wealthiest and poorest segments of the country, pretty much every time....and why they have absolutely no clue how to how to end wealth stratification. The only thing they know for sure how to do is create it. When the middle class of America goes, it's going to become a polarized shithole of rich and poor like just about every other country in the world. And I am pretty sure that is what the wealthiest people in the world want...

http://www.historycentral.com/elections/12008/exit/Income.html


Which is probably why the overwhelmingly back Mr. Obama.

[velik_m]

In fact the only thing that more or less tracks that list that is red and blue states in Presidential elections.

How does this list correlate to "in which state the people get more money from the goverment" list?

2005 data (http://www.taxfoundation.org/press/show/22659.html)

Socialism makes people happy. :)

[balli]

ignorance is bliss

[BRHornet45]

sons we have finally topped a list that is positive. my God

[TheProfessor]

How does this list correlate to "in which state the people get more money from the goverment" list?

2005 data (http://www.taxfoundation.org/press/show/22659.html)

Socialism makes people happy. :)
Nicely played.

[td4mvp21]

ignorance is bliss

:lol You stole my line, bastard

[ChumpDumper]

How does this list correlate to "in which state the people get more money from the goverment" list?

2005 data (http://www.taxfoundation.org/press/show/22659.html)

Socialism makes people happy. :):lol

[jag]

ignorance is bliss

You must be overjoyed.

[Fabbs]

Title of thread = there must have been some huge oil spill somewhere.
Or bogus, tax draining war started.

[sabar]

Perhaps, but these rankings are relative. According to mass media and politicians, everyone is miserable.

[ElNono]

The scientists caution, however, that the top spot, Louisiana, might not reflect current levels of well-being since the data were collected before the disruption caused by Hurricane Katrina. They are confident that data for the other states does accurately reflect happiness levels

I do wonder what that list looks like today, after the election, the bailout, the economy up and down, unemployment, etc.

[Marcus Bryant]

Perhaps, but these rankings are relative. According to mass media and politicians, everyone is miserable.

That does make one wonder, since progress is defined in Western society in material terms and on that basis, happiness should be off the charts in the West.

It's taken at face value that what defines the best public policy is that which maximizes economic growth, or that which redistributes wealth in a certain manner such that a certain measure is maximized.

There should be very few unhappy people in these United States, all things considered, given the standard of living here versus that which the majority of humanity enjoys. Yet so many are miserable. Could it be that material progress is not as important as we are sold?

[Marcus Bryant]

Think about how much government policy at all levels in the US is evaluated and advocated in terms of economic measures. Matters of liberty, rights, and 'quality of life' don't seem to matter as much. It's assumed that the rat race rules all.

We seem to be miserable because we feel we are slipping behind our neighbors. We work so we can get to the income level to be able to borrow more so that we can buy a bunch of crap we really don't need so that we have to work that much harder to pay for the debt service for what we bought and maintain our credit rating so that we can borrow more to buy more. It's like society in general conditions us to get on this foolish treadmill, right from the start. Everything is a competition, starting with our schools, in which we are ranked and sorted and pitted against each other. In terms of national greatness, this system has worked very well. But has it worked for the individual?

When did the purpose of these United States change from providing for the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of the individual to the pursuit of greatness of the national economy?

[Winehole23]

Think about how much government policy at all levels in the US is evaluated and advocated in terms of economic mismeasures. Fify.:hat


Matters of liberty, rights, and 'quality of life' don't seem to matter as much.Regardless of how little people care, they all matter as much (or as little)as they ever did.

The word quality belongs in there. It's not a countable.


We seem to be miserable because we feel we are slipping behind our neighbors.That would be one reason. Another would be that we tend to take an economistic view of our own lives and neglect the qualia as you previously suggested, while gross quantitative concerns crowd everything else out.


We work so we can get to the income level to be able to borrow more so that we can buy a bunch of crap we really don't need so that we have to work that much harder to pay for the debt service for what we bought and maintain our credit rating so that we can borrow more to buy more. It's like society in general conditions us to get on this foolish treadmill, right from the start. Get every young adult in debt and on track for the rat race. This is the real reason a young person is expected to go to college.

For better and for worse, the shared social bond based on the reasonable expectation of making more money than your daddy and providing a better opportunity for your own kids than you had yourself, has probably come to an end in the USA for the great majority of people.

Hello austerity.

At any rate, a society based on living way above your means while using your own house as an ATM and saving nothing whatsoever seems to have reached the end of its rope.


When did the purpose of these United States change from providing for the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of the individual to the pursuit of greatness of the national economy?Dunno. The Progressive Era sounds like a good call to me. You could conceivably go as far back as William McKinley and Grover Cleveland, I think. The federal police action in the Pullman strike and US expansionism in the Pacific seem in retrospect to have foreshadowed a more activist state, but hindsight is 20/20.

[MiamiHeat]

not too long ago

1 parent working a manual labor type job could support an entire household

now, 2 parents working those types of jobs still can't cut it.

we are being bled dry.

[whottt]

How does this list correlate to "in which state the people get more money from the goverment" list?

2005 data (http://www.taxfoundation.org/press/show/22659.html)

Socialism makes people happy. :)

While there may be some evidence that receiving the dollars makes you happy...there is also plenty of evidence that giving the dollars makes you not.

A push at best.

[whottt]

not too long ago

1 parent working a manual labor type job could support an entire household

now, 2 parents working those types of jobs still can't cut it.

we are being bled dry.



Well, we can control that, we just do not do so.


Don't like paying a 30% interest rate on that credit card?

We could bring those credit card companies to their knees, under our control, in a single month, witout any action from the government needed. We'd just have to organize long enought to do it.


We just stop paying on 30% credit cards until they "get it". Both the politicians and the credit card companies. They could not arrest all of us. They culd not prosecute all of us. They do not have the military to round all of us up, nor do they want to do that. They could not, would not, destroy all of our credit ratings. They could not, would not, let us stop using these cards, and even if they did, there would arise another to take their place.


We have the power to bring corporate america big money under our heel whenever we choose to do so. We do not have to elect a leader to do it for us. We do not have to get the government to do it for us.


We just don't do this shit...because it's a hassle. Inconvenient.

We don't do it for the same reason we get credit cards with 30% interest rates on htem in the first place....because we want convenience probably more than anything else.

I'm down for...let's all not pay our creditcard payments in January....let's see what happens.

Let's all stop paying our health insurance payments...let's see what happens.

My prediction is that we will no longer have 30% interest rates and Doctors will be lining up to serve us.

Oh be sure to use that card to pay all your bills in advance...

[whottt]

That does make one wonder, since progress is defined in Western society in material terms and on that basis, happiness should be off the charts in the West.

It's taken at face value that what defines the best public policy is that which maximizes economic growth, or that which redistributes wealth in a certain manner such that a certain measure is maximized.

There should be very few unhappy people in these United States, all things considered, given the standard of living here versus that which the majority of humanity enjoys. Yet so many are miserable. Could it be that material progress is not as important as we are sold?

It's really not that important, it's very much dependent on the individual. I myself like the umbrella provided by a materialistic society, with very good individual rights, with a powerful military to defend from external threats. I figure I can pretty much much do whatever I want individually in that sort of society....materialistic or otherwise. That doesn't mean I want to devote my life to material gain.

[Hooks]

:lol You stole my line, bastard

[whottt]

How smart can you be if you think being intelligent beats being happy?

[rjv]

It's not necessarily about race:

everything's about race to miami heat. except basketball perhaps.

[Nbadan]

Think about how much government policy at all levels in the US is evaluated and advocated in terms of economic measures. Matters of liberty, rights, and 'quality of life' don't seem to matter as much. It's assumed that the rat race rules all.

We seem to be miserable because we feel we are slipping behind our neighbors. We work so we can get to the income level to be able to borrow more so that we can buy a bunch of crap we really don't need so that we have to work that much harder to pay for the debt service for what we bought and maintain our credit rating so that we can borrow more to buy more. It's like society in general conditions us to get on this foolish treadmill, right from the start. Everything is a competition, starting with our schools, in which we are ranked and sorted and pitted against each other. In terms of national greatness, this system has worked very well. But has it worked for the individual?

When did the purpose of these United States change from providing for the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of the individual to the pursuit of greatness of the national economy?

Very conceptual post .....this is one of those manifestations on society from the industrial revolution and the global economy that doesn't make the history books or the History Channel documentaries...

[Winehole23]

Very conceptual post .....this is one of those manifestations on society from the industrial revolution and the global economy that doesn't make the history books or the History Channel documentaries...I think it's timely. People all over the political spectrum are pissed off about the brazenness of the embrace of corporations and the government, and their apparent indifference to popular will and the common good.

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/

[Marcus Bryant]

Here's a concept, are not American schools designed to turn out good little patriotic worker bees? People who won't question the existing economic order, pledge fealty to the government, base their self worth on external commendation, and in general, do as they are told. People who need to pay for their entertainment instead of creating their own. People who are gullible and bored easily.

We all realize the schools are not working, in the sense that the products of those schools demonstrate poor basic skills and lack of critical thinking. We see reports along these lines often. But what if the schools are indeed performing as they were designed to do? What if this basic design hasn't changed in a century?

[Marcus Bryant]

http://www.ralphmag.org/menckenI.html

[Winehole23]

I'm not sure this meme is taking yet, MarcusB, even though it was a cliche in the 1970's and is to this day. We've gotten even dumber since then IMO, if that's even imaginable.

(drinks deeply from his pint glass)

[Winehole23]

not too long ago

1 parent working a manual labor type job could support an entire household Single earner household, with a defined benefit plan was the tacit social compact. How times have changed.

[Marcus Bryant]

Perhaps we should focus on enjoying the last vestiges of the Republic until our PRC Overlords foreclose.

http://www.factcheck.org/Images/image/2009/Ask_FactCheck/Bush_Hu_Visit_2006.jpg

[Marcus Bryant]

I'm not sure this meme is taking yet, MarcusB, even though it was a cliche in the 1970's and is to this day. We've gotten even dumber since then IMO, if that's even imaginable.

(drinks deeply from his pint glass)

What a far cry from 1776, or 1876, for that matter.

The sense I have is that the people understand this, and accept it. True liberty is exhilarating, yet scary. As for education, perhaps there is such a thing as the 'average American' now.