According to Arthur Brooks, an economist at Syracuse University and author of the just-published Gross National Happiness: Why Happiness Matters for America—and How We Can Get More of It, "happy people treat others better than unhappy people do. They are more charitable than unhappy people, have better marriages, are better parents, act with greater integrity, and are better citizens. Happy people not only work harder than unhappy people, but volunteer more too—meaning that they increase our nation's prosperity and strengthen our communities. In short, happy citizens are better citizens. Better citizens are vital to making our nation healthy and strong." (I added the bold italics for emphasis.)

Click on the link below for more, including brief information about a study on people's happiness levels and their political party affiliation. But, keep your Discernment cap on because this article does not specify how they defined "happiness" in the study (happy with the political climate, the state of the country, their own personal lives, etc.), nor does it describe what the political affiliation breakdowns are if you combine the "very happy" and "pretty happy" groups.

Here's the article link:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-happiness_lettermay05...