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Comment by PopeDotNinja | Hacker News Reader

Americans are not good at taking care of each other, in my American opinion. We don't naturally think about what would be good for everyone, and so we don't push for changes that would benefit us all in the long term, but costs us all in the short term.

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I'd say it slightly differently: Americans hate other Americans. We will gladly pay $10 to prevent $1 from going to someone else. We think of each other as competition first and foremost.

As someone who has lived here (US) for close to 15 years, what I find baffling is that some of the voting isn't even that myopic. It is so strongly ideology based that a poor coal miner would vote for a politician who would gut his healthcare and scream "socialism is bad" at any alternative which might actually be beneficial to them in the short term.

The reason it’s baffling to you is because you’re viewing it through your own ideological bias.

Maybe, just maybe, that poor coal miner knows exactly what he’s voting for because that’s what he wants?

I was going by the PP's premise of choosing one's one good over the greater good of society. What I observed was actually the opposite since that poor coal miner is against "higher taxes" & "socialism" even though it is directly benefiting him. That level of adherence to an ideology is what I found baffling (which has nothing to do with my own ideology).

It's because they have the "American dream" of rising to the top. https://youtu.be/xxD9nGL3NLY

Wall Street is getting another half trillion in cash injection from the Fed.

People who work for a living see it like this: they want a voluntary economy. That's why they vote against "socialism." Most welfare we have goes to the rich.

Exactly! No one or very few would question the wealthy when they vote against their self interest. It’s somewhat condescending to accept wealthy people voting against their immediate self interest and at the same time condemning the poor for voting against their perceived self interest from the POV of non poor people.

The cost of a rich person vs a poor person of voting against their own self interests is not the same. And I am not condemning anyone. To me, it is just contrary to the PP's statement of Americans thinking about themselves and not about others.

Well, yes, they are voting for what they want: to really hurt other people at their own expense.

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