Come on over. I'll host you in California next winter. Or perhaps we could travel to Sydney in Jan. My sister has a huge house there so the stay would be free. If you still prefer dark/cold winters, I'll buy you a beer. Otherwise you will owe me a beer. Deal?
I'm not saying that summers are bad, I'm saying that winters are fine. Sure, there's SAD which affects some portion of the population, and some things do wind down and we live in different ways at different times of the year. Personally I don't like scorching heat, but I do enjoy the long nights - a definite benefit of being up north!
But you were implying somehow that we're lying on these rankings or what? That winter is so bad it somehow cancels out the fact that we are, a lot of us, largely in freedom from fear and want, to quote your Roosevelt, in a way that is fairly unique in this world? I promise you that it is real.
I don't know what winters in CA look like exactly as I've never been there (probably depends where in CA too, it's a big place), but I lived in the tropics for a few years and I kind of missed European winters. Being too cold isn't brilliant, but being too hot isn't either. I like the alternation between things – kinda breaks stuff up.
Also some food or drinks somehow never taste quite the same in hot temperatures. Red wine is a good example.
I've just lived through my 39th such winter, and I really don't know what you're talking about.