By Wayne Allyn Root

As the 2008 Libertarian Vice Presidential nominee and a frequent guest on Fox News and Fox Business, many of you already know that I believe in the libertarian ideals of dramatically lower spending and taxes, radically cutting the size, scope, and power of government, and increasing economic and personal freedoms for all citizens.

It is important to note that long-term studies now prove that this philosophy is not just good for your bank account, it’s good for your spirit, too. Amazingly, these studies prove that simply believing in the power of the individual versus that of government power makes all the difference in whether you are successful and satisfied with your life. What a bonus — a political philosophy that hands you the keys to a happier and more fulfilling life in addition to being morally sound.

Back in October 2008, newspapers across the country trumpeted the news that being a Republican automatically makes you happier than being a Democrat. However, happiness is not about one’s political party affiliation. It is a mindset.

What leads to happiness is freedom for the individual — free markets, the freedom to make choices, the freedom to keep your own money and decide what to do with it, and freedom from government interference in your life. None of us is guaranteed happiness the day we are born. As great as the United States is, no government can guarantee happiness. But what our Founding Fathers did guarantee was the freedom topursue our own happiness.

The study, released by the Pew Research Center, is called the “Pew Social & Demographic Trends Project.” The dramatic partisan “happiness gap” that Pew found in favor of Republicans has held steady for nearly four decades — since 1972, when surveys funded by the National Science Foundation first began to ask the happiness question.

Remarkably, it has remained consistent during both Republican and Democratic presidential administrations. Republicans weren’t just happier under Reagan or Bush, they were also happier under Carter and Clinton. And no doubt they’ll be happier under Obama as well.

Republicans have been happier even when Democrats have dominated Congress, as well as during the darkest days of Watergate. The happiness gap actually widened in the Fall of 2008 – Republicans were far happier even as the economy tanked, the stock market collapsed, the credit markets froze, and it became obvious that Democrats would win the White House.

Is happiness really in the DNA of Republicans? Of course not, but it might be something that comes from their attitude toward life (and success). Happiness has nothing to do with party identification. It is about a belief system – a positive, conscious mindset that helps create health, wealth, success, and happiness.

The proof is that the same results hold true in places across the globe where the words “Republican” and “Democrat” don’t exist. In countries all over the world, those who identify themselves as conservatives are far happier than those who identify themselves as liberals. Again, it is a long-term pattern proven by scientific research.

Being a card-carrying Republican is certainly not what makes a person happy. Remember, I’m not a Republican. I’m a Libertarian. But Republicans, libertarians, and conservatives all share a common trait - belief in the individual. They believe in the principle that you, not the government, are in control of your own destiny.

The Pew study found that a key factor for happiness is whether you believe that success is determined by outside forces or by personal initiative. It is this core belief that changes lives. As the Washington Post put it, “The hypothesis: Those who think they can control their destinies are happier.” That’s a belief that fiscal conservatives and free market libertarians share the world over.

To me, the answer is simple and straightforward. If you believe that government can make your life better, and you are waiting around for the government to save you, you are destined to fail. If you are waiting for handouts, entitlements, bailouts, and stimulus checks to save you, you are destined to fail. Most important, if you are waiting for government to make your life better, you are destined to be disappointed, thereby creating own unhappiness — and even depression.

I have also found that fiscal conservatives don’t believe in luck playing a part in success. As a CEO and entrepreneur, I’ve experienced luck many times in the business world - and all of it has been bad! Yet I’ve remained an incredibly positive and happy person. Why? Because I believe that a talented, tenacious, and relentless entrepreneur can overcome even the longest odds and the toughest breaks.

Some people experience bad luck and choose to become bitter, negative, and blame others. They give up in the face of adversity. Then they turn to government to “save” them. They ask government to “level the playing field”

But individuals who believe they control their destiny react differently to bad luck. They become more committed, more tenacious, and more determined to succeed. Individuals with this kind of mindset don’t wait for opportunity.

They create opportunity. There is one more piece to this equation: Fiscal conservatives don’t resent the success of others. We don’t see prosperity as limited or finite. We see one person’s success as a sign that success is possible for all of us. We see the wealthy as role models to be emulated, not greedy or lucky people to be torn down, denigrated, or punished (with high tax rates).

We don’t want to redistribute the wealth of others. We just want to make more money ourselves by working harder and smarter. That kind of positive attitude makes us more hopeful about our own prospects for success (and, therefore, happier as well). We always see the glass as half full. One individual’s financial success doesn’t make us mad or jealous or resentful. It inspires us to change our circumstances and turn lemons into lemonade.

This all leads to one conclusion: Each individual’s success is determined by his or her attitude. The best way to guarantee happiness is to depend on yourself. No one else believes in you more than you believe in yourself. No one else can or will fight harder for you than you can or will fight for yourself.

Always think to yourself: If it is to be, it is up to me. No one will ever buy you a Mercedes or BMW but you. Those who sit around waiting for the government to improve their lives by creating equality and fairness will be waiting for a lifetime.

Without faith in your own talents to change your situation, life can be depressing. Successful and happy people the world over wait for nothing and no one. They take control and they take action.

Our greatness as a nation comes from the laws that our Founding Fathers bequeathed to the citizens in the form of the Constitution, which limits the power of government. It is this remarkable document that has unleashed such incredible creativity, productivity, prosperity, and achievement for 222 years.

Only our Founding Fathers, among all the other nations of the world, had the wisdom and foresight to include the words “the inalienable right to pursue happiness” in the founding documents. Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, Washington, Adams – perhaps the most brilliant thinkers ever assembled – all recognized that free individuals had the inalienable right to pursue happiness, not the inalienable right to achieve it.

No government can guarantee you happiness. Nor can government provide it for you. Government can only guarantee you the freedom to pursue it.

Wayne Allyn Root is the author of the new book, The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gambling & Tax Cuts! which debuts in July at bookstores everywhere. It is now available for pre-sale at www.Amazon.com. For more information on Wayne, please visit www.ROOTforAmerica.com or www.ROOTofSuccess.com.

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This entry was posted on Monday, June 8th, 2009 at 10:28 am and is filed under Inspiration. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can comment below, or trackback from your own site.