I think a lot of the motivation to keep shoving those frogs down comes from religion, particularly christianity. Christianity teaches that we are born flawed (original sin) and must work for our redemption. The protestant wing of christianity seems the worst for this (I'm not sure why). Just look what happened when the puritans took over England after the English civil war. What a joyless bunch they were.

It is a great article. Insightful and funny.