Observing that “many data sets show” that conservatives are happier than liberals, Arthur C. Brooks argued in the New York Times that “marriage and happiness go together” and that “religious participants are nearly twice as likely to say they are very happy about their lives as are secularists.” He also highlighted how “the happiest Americans are those who say they are either ‘extremely conservative’ (48 percent very happy) or ‘extremely liberal’ (35 percent),” suggesting moderates are miserable. He asked: “What explains this odd pattern? One possibility is that extremists have the whole world figured out, and sorted into good guys and bad guys. They have the security of knowing what’s wrong, and whom to fight. They are the happy warriors.”
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