Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3DmLpLi We’re living in an era of hyper-politicization, loneliness, and a growing mental health crisis. So what does it actually mean to build a “good” and “happy” life in the middle of all that? That’s the question I brought to Arthur Brooks. If you’re familiar with his work, you know Arthur is the preeminent scholar of human happiness today. He started out, like me, as a professional musician, before earning a PhD in public policy. He spent years running a major think tank in D.C., then made an unexpected pivot to focus full-time on happiness. He now teaches a course called “Leadership and Happiness” at Harvard Business School, where it’s the most oversubscribed elective at the school. Along the way, Brooks has written best-selling books—including one co-authored with Oprah—and has become a kind of therapist-in-chief for anyone trying to figure out how to live well in a noisy, divided culture. Arthur does something fairly unique: He combines hard data, moral clarity, and lived experience to help people navigate meaning, purpose, and even their dating lives. That’s why I asked him to join me for a very personal–and at times dare I say vulnerable—conversation on the podcast. I asked him about the state of human progress, how income affects happiness, and if it’s true that liberals are more unhappy than conservatives.