Democracy and Happiness — Democracy Under Attack

So, this week’s video is all about democracy, and kind of why it matters, and how it may, in fact, be something that we really need to turn our attention to. Democracy matters, of course, for just basic moral reasons. It’s associated with less civil war, more stability, obviously there’s greater egalitarianism, human rights, and just this basic notion that we get to participate in our own destiny with respect to how we’re governed, and how we shape the society we live in. But more than anything, from my perspective, from my area of expertise, is that democracy is highly associated with happiness. And gosh darn it, it looks as though it’s in jeopardy, democracy and happiness is in jeopardy. Stay tuned, we’ll tell you all about it.

As a coach, public speaker, and best-selling author, I teach topics just like this one all around the world. So, stay tuned, and I’ll give you practical tools that you can use to make both yourself and those around you both happier and more successful. So, what does that mean that democracy leads to greater happiness? Well, there’s really good science. There’s a high correlation between the presence of democracy and a happier society. And there are places where there are exceptions, and the exceptions are quite notable.

Often, what we see is that countries that don’t have a high level of trust, internal trust with one another, they may have democracy but they don’t have a lot of happiness. Think former Soviet bloc countries that, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, became democracies but are either highly corrupt, or just don’t have very trusting societies. Well, the presence of democracy in those places doesn’t always seem to translate into greater happiness. Whereas in most other parts of the world, democracy and happiness are highly correlated. But happiness, clearly from the presence of these many exceptions, is dependent on trust. And it makes sense, right?

In a democracy, if you think that you’re getting value from it, if your country is better served by it, and that you personally have some stake in it, you have to trust the people, the operatives, the way that elections themselves occur, in order to feel like democracy is a worthwhile investment. And this is why I think America is genuinely in jeopardy, because we’re at a time now where trust is decaying and Americans are becoming less and less happy as a nation.

Now, I want to talk about different types of politics and different ways in which we become distrustful. First of all, there’s spin, and then there’s questions of fundamental integrity, and then thirdly, there’s outright lying. And spin is sort of, everybody does it. Any debater engages in spin, it’s where you select certain facts that support your story, or that you tell the story in a way that’s most favorable to your position, and that’s spin. And sometimes, when it goes really too far, it calls into question the integrity of the speaker. So, integrity is fundamental to trust.

Then, when it comes to the question of outright integrity, we know that we want the electors in the United States to be the ones who choose their governors, and presidents, and all elected officials. The people who govern them, we want them to be chosen through an integris process of Americans choosing for America. And when you start reaching to outside foreign countries directly to influence the outcome of American elections, that is a clear contradiction in what is basic integrity. And I think we’re seeing that in America.

Here’s a few examples: “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.” “China should start an investigation into the Biden, because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine.” So, that’s clearly, in my view, a major breach in integrity, and results in less trust in the American people.

And then there’s lying, and there’s innocuous, vain, somewhat stupid lying, like the whole lies about the inauguration and how many people attended Trump’s inauguration versus Obama’s, and Trump was clearly lying. Sort of no big deal. But then you have lying like he’s lied about the coronavirus, and again: “When you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job.” “It’s going to disappear one day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”

Now, these kind of lies are much more damaging. They go to the well-being of Americans. Frankly, I’m sure people have died because of some of these lies. And when we have this kind of lying, it’s informing public policy positions, and the political viewpoint of the country, and the way that people go about their daily lives, and this is very serious indeed.

And then there’s examples of just outright making stuff up on the spot, again, outrageously damaging to the inherent levels of trust that Americans can have in their government. And you know, “There are those that say you can test too much, you do know that.” “Who says that?” “Oh, just read the manuals, read the books.” “Manuals?” “Read the book, read the books.”

So, here’s the conclusion. Less than 90 days away from an election, whether you sit as someone who has values that more correspond to a Republican point of view, or values that more correspond to a Democratic point of view, you clearly, right now, have a liar in the White House. There’s no arguing that fact. And on November 3rd, you and America have a chance to change that. And as a result, you have a chance to preserve democracy and greater happiness.

And as a happiness advocate and an expert who believes that happiness leads to more success on many, many levels: personal, professional, organizational, societal, I hope you choose well.