Happiness During Wartime

Orlando Sentinel columnist Kathleen Parker glosses a new book by National Journal's Carl M. Cannon. She writes that The Pursuit of Happiness in Times of War

in perfect tune with Bush's imperative that we "get back to normal" - Cannon posits the Darwinian notion that the opportunity to pursue happiness is what fuels our drive and willingness to fight for and preserve liberty.
…
Contrary to what our enemies think, Americans aren't slack, lazy and soft. We're like Kid Shelleen, the character played by Lee Marvin in "Cat Ballou." It is true that sometimes we can be found in the hammock cradling a six-pack of beer. But it is also true that when necessity calls, we can rise to the occasion and sober up right fast.

The problem is "they" - you know, the ones who hate us and some who pretend to be our friends - confuse our pursuit of happiness with hedonism and mistakenly infer a lack of purpose. As Cannon demonstrates - and as the U.S. military recently made clear in Afghanistan and Iraq - freedom and lack of purpose are not axiomatic.

Whole column here.

Would Fred Flintstone pass Cannon's criteria? He writes, ""Chasing dreams, pursuing happiness, and even achieving material success, are not embarrassing by-products of American freedom; they are the essence of American freedom."

I think so.