How Can A Conservative Be Happy?

The title insinuates that I will be referring to all conservatives in this piece. I don't. It's nonsensical and inaccurate to paint an entire group in large swaths. As many of us are aware, conservatives come in different swipes. Christianist Conservatives. Social Conservatives. Economic Conservatives, and Conservatives that are a sliver away from pure libertarianism just to name a few. 

The conservative I speak of is the one who listens to conservative talk radio. On my way to work at the local community college in the morning, I turn into hear mid-morning nationally syndicated talker Glenn Beck. I cannot take it for long. It's not that I am angry at Beck for his loopy and conspiracy laced opinions, often given in preachy shrillness. It's the fact Beck is so depressing. 

The local talk radio station, KXEL begins airing conservative talk radio at 8 a.m. and does not stop until 9 p.m. (with the exception of an hour break at 5 p.m. for a local sports talk radio host. The big names are on there. Beck. Limbaugh. Hannity. Levin. 

Limbaugh in particular has repeated statements from time to time emphasizing that Conservatives are happy people. Listening to these talk shows gives a window into a world that is anything but. The rhetoric of conservative talk radio, at least among the four mentioned here, is that of fear. Fear of Muslims. Fear of sharia law. Fear of Democrats. Fear of Obama. Fear of gays. Fear of blacks that do not conduct themselves like a Herman Cain or a J.C. Watts. Fear of modernity. Fear of compromise. Fear of Hispanics. Fear that that America is about to collapse. Fear of the Chinese. Fear of the Iranians.

Threats abound. There is always conspiracy that is lurking in the shadows that is posing an immediate threat to the American way of life. The "American Way" of life as they explain it is merely in vague generalized terms like "liberty" "freedom" and "free market." But these things are not celebrated. Nothing is. There are too many dark clouds circling. Everyone has to be on edge at all times. Glenn Beck is insinuating that people need to leave big cities and head into the country until after the coming collapse of society has passed. Sean Hannity has said that that the 2012 is "the most important election in our lifetime. This is the same thing he said regarding the 2004 and 2008 elections. He will probably say it again in the 2016 cycle. 


If you are a conservative who listens to this stuff all day, how can you be happy if you are afraid of everything?