The more control you have over your life, the more responsible you feel for your own success - or failure.

Conservatives are better talking about opportunity and growth in the abstract, while liberals talk more about poor people. Right now we [americans] need a good, optimistic, conservative opportunity ideology that is totally geared toward lifting up the poor. That's what I most want to see in candidates.

We will have bigger bureaucracies, bigger labor unions, and bigger state-run corporations. It will be harder to be an entrepreneur because of punitive taxes and regulations. The rewards of success will be expropriated for the sake of attaining greater income equality.

If you think spreading money around by force seems like an odd definition of fairness, you're not alone.

As a political independent, I would gladly vote for any political party dedicated to limited government and entrepreneurship.

Happiness isn't found in some finite checklist of goals that we can diligently complete and then coast. It's how we live our lives in the process. That's why the four pillars of happiness are faith, family, community and meaningful work. Those are priorities we have to keep investing in.

The key to happiness is not being rich; it's doing something arduous and creating something of value and then being able to reflect on the fruits of your labor.