Contradictory Stances: Voting Against One's Own Interests

Why, oh why, do people vote against their own self-interests?

This is a popular theme of the left, the political position I most often find myself on.  It's a subject of much discussion, and has helped generate such books as What's The Matter With Kansas by Thomas Franks.  It most often centers on the idea that many middle-class and working poor voters vote against their own economic interests by voting for Republican policies that favor the wealthy over everyone else, that would dismantle the safety net that they have come to rely, and would destroy their workplace protections.

Yes, it does seem to appear that way.  But I am a little bit sensitive to the idea that everyone in a certain group would logically vote that way.  Voting, like everything else, is based on a complexity of motivations and interests that may not reveal themselves by a simple superficial analysis.

Take myself, for instance.  On the surface, it seems illogical to be where I am.  How many Southern white CPAs are on the progressive side of the agenda?  I can tell you, from my own experience, you have a better chance of spotting a unicorn. Yet, to me, being a liberal makes infinite sense.

Yes, I see the insanity of government bureaucracy sometimes, but I also see it on the private side as well.  I see people of good will on both sides trying to make the system work.  And I see charlatans and ne'er-do-wells on both sides too.  What is needed is a system of checks and balances.  Because ultimately that is what my profession is about - a sense of fair play and rules of the road that help us all drive safely.

But my sense of numbers is not the only thing that drives me to the left.  Like everyone else, I am so much more than that.  I have religious, moral and civic philosophy that drive me to highly value civil rights and equal opportunity. My foreign policy view that leans towards diplomacy and a small, more efficient military does not stem from being a CPA.

An example where my different influences do blend is in health care.  I see it as a moral imperative (and as a Christian one, based on my understanding of the faith   that we have true universal health care.  I also, partly due to my CPA background, see it as the alternative that is most cost effective.  A perfect blending of moral and economic imperatives.

So I see teachers who vote for politicians who wish to abolish public education, artists and culturally educated people who buy into philosophies that seem to be bereft of empathy or anything that I think make people a great artist, religious voters who seem completely blind to the fact that the biggest sin mentioned in the bible is that of the exploitation of the powerless by the powerful, those whose job conditions and pay are better because of unions turn their back so vehemently on those unions.  There are many examples of seemingly contradictory voting behavior.

But the onion has many layers.  It is hard to peel them all away and see to the core of what people are actually doing.  And all that peeling is just making me cry anyways.