Folks around here had their five minutes of national exposure the last week when a tea party member in the 9th House District had his say on NPR: "We're going to get rid of Obama. We're going to get rid of all the Democrats and all the moderate Republicans, and we're going to return this country to its conservative heritage."

Why does this remind me of Nazi Germany? Is it the inflated rhetoric? Is it threat to purge the nation of people the speaker doesn't like? Is it the anger and negativity?

These people aren't for anything. They are simply frustrated, unhappy and want someone to blame.

The other face of anger is depression. I have a friend of more than 50 years who tells me she wants to die. Try as I will, I can't seem to break though her despair. However, she has made me think about happiness itself. We share so much - this woman and I - but where I see light and hope, she now sees darkness and death.

This prompted me to write a list of what make me happy: Water for one. The ocean when I get a chance to visit the coast. Listening to a summer rain when I am snug in bed. A hot soaking tub bath. A waterfall, a fountain, a bubbling stream.

Then there is the moon, the glorious moon. How blessed we are to have this lovely satellite. I can't look at the moon in any of its phases and not feel overwhelmed by its beauty.

I recommend the exercise to my readers. It's probably trite, but it can be very helpful. Once I started thinking about this kind of cosmic happiness, I realized that letting anger, frustration and fear get the better of me is like spitting in the eye of God.

Negative emotions are contagious. They infect those around them, and the shock jocks on talk radio, the irate neighbor down the street, and the ranting blogger on the Internet spread the virus.

Anger fuels aggression. It sours the stomach and undermines rational thought. This is why I am wary of the tea party movement. Anger may energize certain emotional people, but it also turns off many good Americans who might otherwise run for office.

I wince when religion is introduced into a political campaign. When people link their Christian faith with a political campaign that incites anger, wants to overturn government and "get rid" of people, I am repelled. God speaks through beauty and love, not anger and aggression.

No one enjoys paying taxes, but when there is crime in the streets, people want law enforcement to do something about it. When there is drought or fire or flood, people call on the government for help. When the banks collapse, people call for regulation.

We don't need more government. We don't need less government. We need a better, more transparent and functional government.

Let's examine happiness again. The Dalai Lama has written a book called "The Art of Happiness." At the very center of Buddhism is compassion, and the Dalai Lama believes that compassion is essential for a happy and successful world. How different this is from the aggressive nature of those who link their faith with a political ideology that advocates "getting rid of" people.

Ultimately, the choice is ours. Someone can make you miserable, but only you can make yourself happy. If you insist on associating with angry people, if you listen to those who blame others for the nation's shortcomings, if you refuse to be happy until everyone agrees with you ... you deserve what you get.

Joan King lives in Sautee. Her column appears biweekly on Tuesdays and on gainesvilletimes.com.