The Happiness Gap

Non-liberal NY Times columnist David Brooks offers some advice to political candidates in The Happiness Gap, (a nod to Arthur Brooks, who's been examining Happiness in America) just in time for the Democrat debate tonight, and Republicans will find sense in it as well:

Researchers from Pew found that 65 percent of Americans are satisfied over all with their own lives — one of the highest rates of personal satisfaction in the world today.

On the other hand, Americans are overwhelmingly pessimistic about their public institutions. That same Pew survey found that only 25 percent of Americans are satisfied with the state of their nation. That 40-point gap between private and public happiness is the fourth-largest gap in the world — behind only Israel, Mexico and Brazil.

Americans are disillusioned with the president and Congress. Eighty percent of Americans think this Congress has accomplished nothing.

Looking at Brooks' advice to the candidates, right now Obama loses out, given his approach. Voters want can-do decisiveness on a few key, major issues. Well, obviously I'm a Republican, so I think this gives us an advantage--but I think the point is well-taken. For years Democrats have preferred to demagogue issues for votes, rather than solve problems, Social Security being the most glaring example.

No nanny state, no isolationist abdication, Brooks calls the kind of government voters want a gimlet-eyed federalism.

I would call it focusing on the few things the federal government can tackle that no one else can--terrorism, entitlement debt, and immigration. I leave out energy and health care, which he also cited, because in those cases I think the government needs to get out of the way and let the market work--which means letting people make choices for themselves.