States that spend more on libraries, parks and highways have happier Americans: new study

According to a Baylor University study, Americans are happier in states where taxpayer money is spent on public goods like libraries, parks, highways, and natural resources. Part of the reason for this correlation appears to be theĀ fundamental nature of sharing, researcher Patrick FlavinĀ tells EurekAlert!Ā He notes that āPublic goods are things you can't exclude people from using -- and one person using them doesn't stop another from doing so.ā
Public libraries are arguably the single most important institution in a democracy. Anyone can come in to seek and find information on any subject, for free. Besides that very fundamental truth, libraries also house historical archives andĀ serve as community centers, after-school spaces, and sources of cultural programming in the many communities they serve. ConservativesĀ are not big fans of public libraries. Not being able to control access toĀ information creates the kind of anxiety in conservatives like the Koch brothers that only time in an ether chamber can ameliorate.
Public parks and other spaces can help build community, while also providing people with a respite from the general grind of trying to make ends meet.Ā The Trump administrationās attacks on public lands will take years to fix, and exemplify the base narcissism inherent in conservative big-business-will-provide ideology.
According to Flavin, even though higher government spending on public goods is usually accompanied by higher property taxes, peopleās happiness seems to outweigh the cost, whether itās that āhappier citizens self-select by moving to states that spend comparatively more on public goods" or that āhappier citizens support higher spending on public goods and elect state officials to deliver on that policy."
We do know that there is one ideology that opposes government spending on public goods, so we can infer one of two things from that: Conservatives donāt want communities to be happy;Ā or conservatives are generally unhappy people. Just saying.
You can read more about the movement to privatize public libraries over at Susan Grigsbyās diary on the subject.