Political Extremism, Happiness, and Diversity

Greg Mankiw links to this Wall Street Journal article which he says "highlights an externality without and obvious solution":

The strange fact of the matter is that the hard-core liberals and conservatives in America are actually some of our happiest citizens. According to the National Opinion Research Center in 2004, in spite of all their bile, 35% of people who said they are "extremely liberal" also reported being "very happy" with their lives -- versus 22% of people who were just "liberal" and 28% of moderates. At the same time, a whopping 48% of people who were "extremely conservative" were very happy (compared with 43% of non-extreme conservatives)....

The trouble is that, while radicals may be happy, they undoubtedly lower the happiness of the rest of us through their intolerance and antisocial ways -- spewing out what economists call "externalities" with every insulting bumper sticker and obnoxious street demonstration. Political nastiness is something akin to pollution.

Mankiw then goes on to say:

Extreme political views need not go hand in hand with intolerance (Milton Friedman being a good example a tolerant extremist), but unfortunately they often do.

To foster tolerance, what we need is more interaction among people with opposite viewpoints. How about a student exchange program between Harvard and Liberty University? Or an affirmative action program to hire more Republicans for the Harvard faculty? Now that would be real diversity.

Sounds like an interesting idea, although I think Berkley and Bob Jones would really push the limits of the diversity spectrum.

My take: Extremists on both sides of the political spectrum are much more likely to feel a sense of purpose that attaches to their political views. This sense of meaning serves to give them higher levels of satisfaction with their lives. This is what serves to bring them higher levels of overall happiness in their lives.

Think of all the advice you've ever gotten about "just being yourself" and "not caring what other people think". This seems to describe people with extreme political beliefs fairly well. Have they found one of the secrets of happiness? Maybe so... or it could be that happy people for some reason are more likely to hold extreme political views?