Joe already pulled the best line from the Will column. Nifty indeed.
Even so, the following had me laughing at my desk. The cut on social science “professionals” is rich. Really, go read the essay. The humor is even stronger when you consider that a) Will is a conservative, b) Will’s public persona is so very, very serious and uptight and c) Will’s credentials in the social sciences — unlike many pundits — are pretty darn impressive. The whole thing had me laughing. Either it is really funny, or I’m just a happy kind of guy.
People in the Sun Belt — almost entirely red states — have sunnier dispositions than Northerners, which could have as much to do with sunshine as with conservatism. Unless sunshine makes people happy, which makes them conservative.
Such puzzles show why social science is not for amateurs. Still, one cannot — yet — be prosecuted for committing theory without a license, so consider a few explanations of the happiness gap.
