Why People Vote Against Their Own Interests

BBC News :

...It is striking that the people who most dislike the whole idea of healthcare reform - the ones who think it is socialist, godless, a step on the road to a police state - are often the ones it seems designed to help.

In Texas, where barely two-thirds of the population have full health insurance and over a fifth of all children have no cover at all, opposition to the legislation is currently running at 87%.

Read the whole story: BBC News

Comments

[omeo2013]

07:44 PM on 02/03/2010

My favorite part is where he compares America to a reverse French Revolution with do many Americans insisting on giving mote money and power to the very men that are holding them down and denying their prosparity. So true. I can't decide if the voters are suicidal or just masochistic, but we sure love getting pounded by the guys at the top. Thank you, Insurance Industry. May we have another? God, I love going bankrupt over my medical bills. More debt, please.

[luckyone77]

01:05 PM on 02/02/2010

PKW57 said something that made me think -its about freedom, our children and future slipping away. We long for the individual freedom that existed prior to white man's culture; the indians were free to live as they pleased, hunt, gather, and care for their families and their communities. That was a culture where everyone lived in honor and cared for each other naturally. They had no concept of what's mine is mine, and yours is yours. But as soon as you introduce property ownership as basis for society, laws and government become necessary to uphold those principles. And as society becomes more and more complex, the need for larger government becomes inevitiable, like death and taxes. The question then becomes, what kind of government? One run by impartial disinterested parties, sworn to uphold the constittution or one run through stealth by private corporations? Monsanto now holds the genetic patents to our food supply, next, biomedical firms will own the patents to human genetics. At what point do you think repblicans will begin to realize that a little regulation is not such a bad thing, and possibly essential to maintiaing what semblence of freedom we still have?

[stoptalkingdosomething]

11:52 AM on 02/02/2010

The republicans are quite smart . They are very, very, angry about about being out of power, the southern white male has had a strong grip on power for a long time, they refuse to turn it a lose, how else can you explain that if the policies are not what they want they won't vote for it. They are determined to run the country even though they are not in power. There is a force out there that us democrats are missing, remember the 2000 election, they busted into the court house where the count was being conducted , shouting"no more counting, how many times are you going to count? until Gore win?" Remember the grow chanting at Gore's home, "get out ot chaney's house". Remember, whatever bush/republicans wanted they put the well oiled machine out there in the media to convince the country it was best thing to do. Now that they have fox news, talk radio they can step it up even more. They know how their voters think, and use them to get into power to get richer, and get their friends richer, and by the time its discovered, they put their machine together to blame it on democrats. The democrats have a long ways to go to out smart the republicans. And isn't it time to have two americas, I really think we are so far apart on our thinking, we will never have a great country again.

[PKW57]

08:11 AM on 02/02/2010

It is really very simple.

Although I am unemployed I oppose Health Care Reform and other "Great Society" entitlement programs because I care more for my country and my children's future than I do for myself. It is the 'Selfish American' mentality that is destroying our nation.

I don't want the government's help in the form of entitlements. I want the government to get the heck out of my way and allow me to create my own destiny, be it poor or rich, based on my own decisions and efforts. I don't want welfare, medicare, medicaid, unemployment, food stamps or any new programs that they claim are for my benefit but in reality only increase the reach of big government.

I don't want the liberals telling me how much they care for me and how they want to help me. I don't want the conservatives telling me my misfortunes come from my 'immoral' behavior or that they are the fault of those 'godless liberals'.

I just want to be left alone to make my own future and all the politicians & pundits should go to h*ll.

[fromdnorth]

11:32 AM on 02/02/2010

"I don't want the government's help in the form of entitlements..".

As someone said in earlier posts:

Then don't use the roads;
Don't look for the FDA to test for safety;
Drink any water you like, without having it tested;
etc...

just want to be left alone - you need help if you are not a teenager...

[Flying Dutchman]

05:33 AM on 02/02/2010

I know the answer.

Definition: Intelligence

* Adaptability to a new environment or to changes in the current environment
* Capacity for knowledge and the ability to acquire it
* Capacity for reason and abstract thought
* Ability to comprehend relationships
* Ability to evaluate and judge
* Capacity for original and productive thought

[StillAmused]

05:13 AM on 02/02/2010

Fet@l alcohol syndrome.

[KriTiKiT]

03:13 AM on 02/02/2010

how about the 40 hours a week at work so they miss all the good stuff... how about blowhard journalists that give the whole trade a bad name, how about headlining with someone with there undies on and not important social policy how about those folks how about a owner of a news corp or paper that sell off shares... I remember once that advertisers didn't own the rag

[ProudMilVet]

02:04 AM on 02/02/2010

luckyone77 : He's all for the Patriot Act ! Says it kept us Free ! ! Go Figure.

[luckyone77]

12:46 AM on 02/02/2010

This is an interesting question, why would people oppose what is in their best interest? All I can think of to say is that these are not rational people. If you look at what is happening in the world every day is becoming more chaotic. until just recently I thought it was a phenomenon brought on by so many years of hate talk radio poisoning the airwaves but there seems to be more. Supposedly the HAARP technology (SDI "peace shield, turned weather warfare weapon, turned geophysical weapon) also has mind control capabilities as well. Do your own research.. google and youtube.

[luckyone77]

01:25 AM on 02/02/2010

The other possible explanation that comes to mind is demonic posession.

[ProudMilVet]

11:48 PM on 02/01/2010

These poor fools remind me of an incident at work just before the 2008 election. One of my co-workers asked me who i was going to vote for. I said Obama. I said in return, who are you voting for ? He replied " I'm voting for McCain ! Because if Obama wins, he's going to take away all of our Personal Freedoms ! " I said oh, what personal freedoms do you think he's going to take away ? He again replied, " You know, our Personal Freedoms & our Liberty ! " I again replied okay, which ones do you think he's going to take away ? He replied, " All of them ! " I said well, name a few, i'm curious ! At this point, he couldn't think of anything else to say, so he got ticked off & walked away ! True Story Sad, but True.

[FreedomBeforeDemocracy]

12:23 AM on 02/02/2010

Your freedom to refuse the purchase of health insurance (although I guess he was against that before he was for it), your freedom of speech (campaign finance reform), your freedom to not support failing industries (GM bailout), etc. Should I go on? Maybe your coworkers are poor at articulation. I guess it's irrelevant though. McCain was for much of the same.

Although "all of our personal freedoms" is a little bit of exaggeration. There always seem to be more personal freedoms that the next administration can take. I still get to choose my own food (although I am forced to subsidize agri-business).

[moongal6]

01:06 AM on 02/02/2010

Yes, fill out your check to Michelle Bachmann, and send it to her "family".

[gurukalehuru]

06:03 AM on 02/02/2010

Poor at articulation is an understatement and you know it.
You can write a full sentence without mistakes, you are obviously more intelligent than the pack of rabid animals you run with. Why?
Think about it, Freedombeforedemocracy. You might be on the wrong side.

[luckyone77]

12:47 AM on 02/02/2010

So how does your collegue feel about the Patriot Act?

[blacktea]

11:46 PM on 02/01/2010

What amazing arrogance. People's best interests are defined by themselves, not your perception of what you think their best interests are.

[fromdnorth]

12:07 AM on 02/02/2010

In Canada that is the definition of self-delusion... a persistent false psychotic belief regarding the self or persons or objects outside the self that is maintained despite indisputable evidence to the contrary;

[luckyone77]

01:33 AM on 02/02/2010

Actually, what it reminds me of is the riotous rabble present at the crucifixion of Christ. -- the same irrationality precisely

[ProudMilVet]

11:20 PM on 02/01/2010

That lady in the picture giving the double thumbs-down, looks like she just soiled her Depends .

[SuperMoncho]

10:27 PM on 02/01/2010

Because they are Republicans.

[c1ee]

09:33 PM on 02/01/2010

After reading the article and all the childish comments left here, all I can say is, Thank god I live in Australia!

[Solja]

02:15 AM on 02/02/2010

The tro//s come here at night because they have nothing better to do. A lot of them work as lobbyists during the daytime so they are busy in Congress working against the American people. If Democrats get the things they want for Americans, lobbyists become pointless. They come here to spread their vile to save their jobs. Maybe if more of them were out of work, more of us wouldn't be.

[moveyourimage]

09:04 PM on 02/01/2010

I have found it so interesting during the past year to learn that there are so many Americans who like paying high healh insurance premiums, big fat bonuses for execs, etc. It is astonishing that so many people buy into FIX news and their paranoid fear-mongering platform. There does not appear to be enough people who can think for themselves anymore. This group-think mentality would be funny if it wasn't so very sad.

[Solja]

02:16 AM on 02/02/2010

Blame it on our poor educational system in this country, which the Republicans have worked hard to keep from fully funding.