It's clear from Barack Obama's latest verbal mishap that he just doesn't get it!
In making some highly prejudicial remarks about small-town America, he stated that there is a large degree of "bitterness" and resentment festering under the surface, which manifests itself into xenophobia, religious fervor, and arsenal-building. Obama stated:
And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.
What Obama 'just doesn't get' is that small-town America really couldn't be happier. There's no "bitterness" to speak of.
The reality is that those who "cling to religion" could not be happier! Poll after poll shows that those who are more stronger in their faith and those who attend religious services more often are happier than those who are without faith or those who attend religious services less frequently.
- An extensive survey [5] by The Associated Press and MTV found that people aged 13 to 24 who describe themselves as very spiritual or religious tend to be happier than those who don't.
- According to a new poll poll [6], religious belief is linked to higher levels of happiness, and provides psychological help when people are afflicted by dramatic life changes such as job loss or divorce. Professor Andrew Clark, from the Paris School of Economics, and Dr Orsolya Lelkes, from the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research, reached this conclusion after analysing the results of surveys sent to Christian households across Europe. Professor Clark said: "We originally started the research to work out why some European countries had more generous unemployment benefits than others, but our analysis suggested that religious people suffered less psychological harm from unemployment than the non-religious. They had higher levels of life satisfaction".
Further, considering that those who tend to vote Republican are more likely to be more religious than those who vote Democratic, recent polls [7] have shown that Republicans are happier than Democrats, as well.
An Investor's Business Daily/TIPP poll recently asked Democrats, Republicans and Independents to define "rich." Does "rich" mean material possessions, or does "rich" mean something like happiness/health/satisfaction?
Democrats at 41.5 percent, versus Republicans at 28.2 percent, more often defined "rich" as either possessing lots of money, material goods or power. Sample "materialistic" responses included things like, "Rich means:" 1. "If you have an income in excess of $500,000 a year," 2. "Someone who has $1 million in the bank," 3. "To have substantially more money than you can spend," and 4. "Being able to afford anything you want and buy your way out of trouble."
When specifically asked whether rich means having family, friends and good relationships, Republicans, more so than Democrats, defined the term this way. Sixteen percent of Republicans defined "rich" in this way versus 9.7 percent of Democrats. Sample "non-materialistic" responses included things like: 1. "I am rich because I have a roof over my head and a good family and I am emotionally and morally stable." 2. "Someone who has many friends that you care about and that care about you." 3. "I am rich because my children and grandchildren live close to me and I live where I want to -- this is rich to me."
Considering what we have recently learned about the hateful and "bitter" (... if I may) rhetoric which has rained down from the pulpit of Obama's church, maybe Obama needs to consider aligning himself with a new political affiliation - and a new church, for that matter!
