Why people will vote against their own interests--

[verwirrt]

34. Getting Close

This post is on the right track but missing the most critical component. Spite is a factor but not in why they vote against their interests. Spite is a factor in why they are reluctant to listen to anything any of us have to say in the first place. The reason for this is that in rural areas, especially the south, they are well beyond tired of hearing the constant ridicule and put downs. At this point they aren't listening out of spite that much is true. The worst thing you can do if you want to win an election is insult a potential voter.

However, that doesn't answer the question of why they vote against their interests because even with that issue in place many of them, contrary to what we like to think, actually do educate themselves on the issues to some degree. The answer to the question and underlying political problem for the Democratic Party is that these people are not voting against their self interests at least not in how they define their self interests. By the way, I speak from experience when I say telling them that their view of their own self interests is wrong results in the above mention spite issue. In their minds, self interest is best served by keeping other people out of their business. (Although the religious ones seem to often forget this works the other way too.) These people truly believe that they and only they are best suited to make decisions the directly effect them. They view even the most noble government mandates as authoritarian interlopers attempting to usurp their own self determination. Couple that with a mindset in which these people have given far too much credence to Heinlein's line about bread and circuses that you end up with people who genuinely believe that if government was kept to its bear minimum capabilities that the individuals who make up society would eventually address the issues that need to be addressing, oh and they have accepted that a necessarily long time frame for such an occurrence is an acceptable downside in the name of "freedom"