Why Voters Oppose Their Own Interests

By
Glenn W. Smith
– January 30, 2010Posted in: Culture, Politics

01monkeys 600 300x168 Why Voters Oppose Their Own InterestsIt’s a question I’m asked quite often.  Why do struggling middle-class voters choose plutocratic leaders hell-bound on running off with all the money and destroying economic opportunity for those very voters? Why do voters so obviously, and sometimes angrily, oppose their own self-interest? The author Thomas Frank put it this way:

“It’s like a French Revolution in reverse in which the workers come pouring down the street screaming more power to the aristocracy.”

The most common answer to the question is to point to Democratic message failures. There’s truth in this. Drew Weston, George Lakoff and others point to Democrats’ bad habits. They assume lists of facts will persuade a people who are possessed of a universal reason employed steadily in weighing the pros and cons of an issue.

Economists schooled in contemporary brain science have long since given up on this “rational actor” model. There is no such thing as reason stripped of emotion, and our economic and political decisions are colored by prejudice, anger, hope, joy, and existing cultural narratives that may or not match obvious facts.

Another problem is the way we have defined “self-interest.” White racists believe segregation and the oppression of different looking folk is in their self-interest. It’s certainly not rational. It takes little time to show factually that the enforced oppression of others is actually costing the oppressors economically and culturally. But the facts matter little when prejudice and hatred are involved.

Our views of our own interests are often wrong, but they are broad. If we are just barely hanging on economically today, any change threatens our tenuous hold on economic survival. So, reform of health care that benefits the middle class becomes a threat to the middle class. Conservatives are very skilled at exploiting both prejudice and fear. As mentioned above, liberals too often answer with nothing but facts.

There’s a temptation to blame ignorance for voters’ decisions against their self-interests, but those who make such a charge are blind to their own mistaken views of reality. We all suffer from it, we just suffer in different ways. I might as well ask why so many Democrats persist in forms of arguments that are as effective in politics as leeches were in medicine. They believe it is in their self-interest to do so. In part, they are protecting their worldview and their beliefs about human nature.  So don’t blame ignorance alone.

There is a kind of know-nothingism at large in the land, and it is frightening. A significant strain in popular culture — movies, television, popular music — celebrates ignorance and promotes resentment of intelligence. There’s no getting around it. Sarah Palin’s popularity depends in part upon it. This willful ignorance, born of the all-too-human drive to make sense of and defend our own cultural ways, is very dangerous. Our failure to address the climate crisis is a good example.

There is also a widespread worldview regarding the need for authority. Though not exactly compatible with democracy, many people are quite happy to be led, even cruelly led, because it seems to them that hierarchy is natural, their place in it predestined by God. Authoritarian folk can become especially enamored of leaders they perceive to be helping them assist in the oppression of “dangerous” others and the suppression of threats from those of differing views. Ring a bell?

We have to understand self-interest more broadly. We have to recognize that we, too, often make decisions that honest analyses would show are not in our own interests. Sometimes these decisions or actions are downright hilarious. Driving habits are a good example. Did it ever occur to drivers that their selfish “cutting in” at a congested freeway exit are actually exacerbating the very congestion they believe themselves to be avoiding?

We will communicate more successfully when we understand those we want to persuade in a more fully human context. It shouldn’t be surprising to us that effective communication depends upon trust, and trust is reached through demonstrated empathy and understanding. We don’t need to pander by pretending to share prejudices we know are destructive or change our views to match those of people who disagree with us. We do have to take a larger view of their personal universe.

Related Articles:

Tags: , , , ,

About Glenn W. Smith

Glenn W. Smith has spent the past 30 years in journalism and politics, where he’s made a name for himself as a writer, campaign manager, activist, think tank analyst and, as Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas says, a “legendary political consultant and all-around good guy.” “There’s no one like him,” says author George Lakoff. CNN commentator Paul Begala says, “He has unmatched experience, a graceful pen (or pixel nowadays) and deep insight into the best and worst of us.” Novelist Sarah Bird speaks of his “lucid and lyrical” prose. And, she says, he’s fun. Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington says Glenn writes with “grace and abundant humor” and “uses his colorful experiences in Texas to enlighten us all.”

Smith led Ann Richards’ successful 1990 campaign for Governor of Texas. He worked for former Texas Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby and U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen. Earlier, Smith was a political reporter for the Houston Chronicle and the Houston Post. He’s coordinated national campaigns for groups such as MoveOn.org. In 2004, he authored the highly acclaimed book, The Politics of Deceit: Saving Freedom and Democracy from Extinction. He also wrote Unfit Commander, a book that detailed George W. Bush’s mysterious disappearance from military service.

In 2004, Smith was featured in the film, Bush’s Brain, a documentary about Karl Rove. Smith provided commentary on Rove’s role as then-President Bush’s senior advisor. He has made numerous media appearances with Chris Mathews on Hardball, Joe Scarborough, Brit Hume, and many others. He writes a regularly for top national web sites, including FireDogLake and Huffington Post.

As a senior fellow at George Lakoff’s prestigious Rockridge Institute in Berkeley he studied, wrote and taught on the power of metaphor and narrative in political communications. He also lectured on religion and politics at the Starr King School for Ministry in Berkeley. As a sponsor and organizer, he has pulled together numerous national events with progressive religious leaders. He also organized a celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King at Riverside Church in New York City as well as “Freedom and Faith” bus tours, which was a nationwide campaign for social justice and progressive values.

Smith’s play, Double Play, which explored American Western myths and legends, was held over to sold-out audiences. He’s even written and performed songs in the Americana tradition, such as his best-known song, “Helping Marty Robbins,” a tribute to his hometown, Houston.

Most recently, Smith is the creator of DogCanyon, a political and cultural web site covering state, national and global issues from a Texas perspective. DogCanyon is an exhilarating and unique site that gets the connections between politics and culture and explores both the personal side of politics and the ups, down, craziness and beauty of “life its ownself,” as humorist Dan Jenkins would say. DogCanyon offers heartfelt personal essays, hard-hitting political analysis, and, most importantly, laughs.

As Paul Begala said, Smith writes in “the finest, firmest, fearless tradition of Texas essayists like Molly Ivins.”