The Pursuit of Happiness

The pursuit of happiness for a conservative is a self-directed endeavor — one seeks and works for happiness for one’s self, one’s family, friends, and immediate community. 

While a leftist may also pursue happiness, their motivation and goals differ considerably. For them, happiness is gained by compelling others to comply with their values and standards. In many cases such compliance needn’t even be among people one knows. In the left’s world of abstraction, “society” will gain happiness by following the dictates of their perceived betters.  For conservatives, the pursuit of happiness is something one does. For an authoritarian collectivist, it is to do what one is told to do.