Why do people often vote against their own interests?

BBC has an interesting piece on why American voters often vote against their own interests. It has always boggled my mind since I became a voter back in 1996. At that time I was serving in the US Army and our "leadership" was more interested in mediocre pay increases than peace. I recall asking questions like "who the hell wants to go to combat and war?" The answers from some of the neanderthals I served with told me that maybe some people should not be allowed to vote.




"Why are so many American voters enraged by attempts to change a horribly inefficient system that leaves them with premiums they often cannot afford?

Why are they manning the barricades to defend insurance companies that routinely deny claims and cancel policies?

It might be tempting to put the whole thing down to what the historian Richard Hofstadter back in the 1960s called "the paranoid style" of American politics, in which God, guns and race get mixed into a toxic stew of resentment at anything coming out of Washington.

But that would be a mistake.

If people vote against their own interests, it is not because they do not understand what is in their interest or have not yet had it properly explained to them.

They do it because they resent having their interests decided for them by politicians who think they know best."

ARE YOU SERIOUS? People hate being told what to do.....like not killing one another, or having auto insurance, or paying taxes? America needs a civics lesson in the worst way. We do not live on our own personal islands where our actions do not impact others.

To quote Plato, “People are like dirt. They can either nourish you and help you grow as a person or they can stunt your growth and make you wilt and die.”