‘Voting against own interests’ is hurtful condescension

While I was doing research on cultural progressive activists, I picked up certain claims being repeated among many of the respondents. One of those was that conservatives and Christians are people who vote against their own interest.

For example, one person said of conservatives that their “willingness to act against their own interests will eventually doom them.” Another made a comment about “an economically underprivileged woman who was still going to vote for Bush, obviously against her own best interest, simply because Bush opposed abortion.”

I had not previously heard of the concept of voting against one’s own interests. It turns out I have been living under a rock. It seems it is quite common for progressives to talk about those voting for Republicans doing that. It is easy to find on sites like Salon, Occupy Democrats, Huffington Post and Forward Progressives. What I read in the responses of my research subjects was reflective of a larger attitude common among progressives who are trying to explain why more people do not support goals the progressives endorse. When I saw this attitude among my respondents, I found it to be pretty arrogant — and I find it pretty arrogant today, too.

These comments are often addressed specifically to individuals of lower economic status. Those who presume to know what is best for them tend to be more highly educated and wealthier.

What we have, then, in other words, is the wealthy telling the less fortunate what they ought to do. In any other circumstance I suspect this would be described as “blaming the victim.” I honestly wonder if the people speaking this way have engaged in enough self-reflection to consider how arrogant they sound.

Let us assume for the sake of argument that these upper-class progressives are correct: that liberal programs are better for the economy than are conservative approaches. If so, then on that basis they could legitimately believe that the non-wealthy who vote Republican are acting against their own interests. But this argument limits human interests to materialist concerns. That may fit progressives’ priorities, but not everyone shares those priorities.

When the religious values of those in the lower classes are attacked, it denigrates their culture. It’s a judgment against what they value most highly.

These voters might decide that they are safer with a non-leftist criminal justice approach, or with a more aggressive foreign policy. Why should anyone assume they know what is better for those in the lower classes than they do? I don’t want us to forget, either, that I’ve been assuming for the sake of argument that progressives’ economic solutions for the disadvantaged are correct — a big assumption indeed.

So my approach is to respect individuals’ prerogative to make their own decisions. I do not give up my right to disagree with them, but I keep in mind that they’re in a better position to know what is good for them. Remembering that helps brings a measure of humility to my approach.

People with a progressive mindset would do well to do the same. My hope is that we could put to bed the knee-jerk assumption that we know what is best for the poor better than they know themselves. When we hear people speaking with that kind of condescension, we should confront it. They should feel some embarrassment over it.

This story was originally published January 17, 2017 at 8:30 PM with the headline "‘Voting against own interests’ is hurtful condescension."