On May 16, 2005, at 9:03 AM, Gautam Mukunda wrote:
--- Dave Land <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
This does not appear to be the case. People often vote *against* their self-interest. This conundrum appears to be resolved by the understanding that people vote their identities, not their interests. The Republican party did a superior job in the past election of appealing to the middle in this way.
Dave
This is true _only_ if you are so arrogant that you believe you understand people's self interest better than they do. Thomas Hobbes had something to say about that centuries ago. It wasn't true then that elites could (or would) understand most people's self interest better than they did, and it isn't true now. Maybe they _do_ vote their self interest, and you just don't understand what their self interest is. I know which one seems more likely to me.
There are ample cases in the US today of one set of people believing they understand others' self-interests better than those people do. Surely you haven't forgotten the abortion debates, for instance.
It's not necessarily elitism to suggest that someone's interests are more clear to others than they are to him/herself. And it's not elitist to suggest that many times people -- even voters -- act out of contingency or a kind of reflex when voting, rather than weighing long-term cost/benefit perspectives.
-- Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books http://books.nightwares.com/ Current work in progress "The Seven-Year Mirror" http://www.nightwares.com/books/ockrassa/Flat_Out.pdf
_______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
