Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth.

For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street. In an old bit entitled Everything is Amazing and

Nobody is Happy, comedian Louis C.K. mocked just how crabby people can be today, despite living in an

age so much better and easier than any other time in human history. Despite incredible

technological innovations like smartphones and airplanes, we still find ways to be upset. Well, in a similar

way, National Review Senior Editor Charles C.W. Cook recently wrote about the lack of optimism in

contemporary America, even amidst such great advancements.

In an essay entitled Against Misery, Cook, a self-identified atheist, claimed Americans

have reason to be optimistic and to push back against the doldrums of contemporary despair.

Here's what he wrote, quote, per Gallup, 81% of Americans are either very or somewhat satisfied with their lives,

while just 20% are either very or somewhat satisfied with the way things are going in the United States in general.

And why wouldn't they be when, day and day out, our leaders declaim and condemn and lament the awful state of things,

end quote.

Well, this staggering gap that's been identified by this Gallup data is worth exploring.

Cook noted that even amidst the negative views about our country, often portrayed by political

leaders in the media, Americans are still pretty happy about their lives, and they should be,

given that we have the strongest economy in the world, the most durable constitutional system, the strongest military, or the home

of the world's tech industry, among other critical factors. Cook thinks that the gap is attributable

largely to the fact that most respondents to the poll, whose lives individually are good,

are answering on behalf of people they think

are unhappy, many of whom may not even exist. And that's because, Cook worries, and I quote,

the electorate has adopted a worldview that renders satisfaction philosophically unattainable,

...