Robert J. Samuelson
The global happiness derby
Washington Post, April 15, 2012
“The Absence Of Misery” Is A World Where Robert Samuelson Just Shuts Up!
This is not only vintage Samuelson, it’s vintage right wing. Samuelson (no relation to Paul Samuelson) seems to have not read the 167 page report, Global Happiness Report (GHR). As a stalwart right winger, though, he’s drawn like bears to honey whenever the word “happiness” appears in anything of consequence. For them, allowing an emphasis on human and societal happiness to enter the conversation would uncover one of the right wing’s political weaknesses which for some reason seems to never get attention. Concern for happiness seems somehow weak to the news media, although they do trumpet continually about the multitudes of opportunities to gain happiness from everything from deodorant to vacation homes.
However, there are limits to the proper sphere of government. In a happy society, individuals feel they are charting their own courses through life, without excessive constraints. That is why there was such unhappiness in the countries of the Soviet bloc before their transition to functioning and stable open societies, and why the happiest countries all have very high shares of their populations who feel free. Making happiness an objective of governments would not therefore lead to he “servile society,” and indeed quite the contrary, if governments pay proper regard to the findings of happiness research. Happiness comes from an opportunity to mold one’s own future, and thus depends on a robust level of freedom. Moreover, corruption in government is a major cause of unhappiness in many countries, and needs to be rooted out.
