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Comment by jliptzin | Hacker News Reader

Maybe Americans will finally stop thinking of themselves as temporarily bankrupt millionaires and start voting with their own interests in mind.

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> ...start voting with their own interests in mind

That sort of condescension is exactly why recent elections have turned out the way they have. Shocking as it may sound, it would seem the public isn't remotely persuaded that their interests are what you say they are.

What would you call it when a population who relies greatly on government support votes in large numbers for a party who wants to end government support?

Maybe a population that want to be able to support themselves?

Check where trump had overwhelming support: it was mostly in areas with lots of unemployment or underemployment. The people there don't want free stuff, they want to work.

Of course they want "free stuff". They want farm subsidies, they want tariffs and a trade policy that has everyone else paying more so their wages can be artificially increased, they want unnecessary military spending that puts money in their pocket, etc.

If you don't see a difference between "Here's some free cash." and "Here's an economic and societal environment where you can build a prosperous and fulfilling career and family with your own two hands.", then studying human psychology and spending more time with those who have grown up in the US with a much different culture and upbringing than you might be to your benefit.

It's still "redistributive".

1. How are farm subsidies different from welfare payments at worse or at best the Earned Income Tax Credit?

2. How is imposing tariffs so that some people pay more than they would pay based on free market prices not "redistributive"?

3. How can the same people who say "the government doesn't create jobs", jibe with the civilian government forcing weapons and military bases that the military says it doesn't need, but it creates jobs in the US using taxpayer money?

These are the same people who don't like ObamaCare but like the ACA.....

http://www.npr.org/2017/02/11/514732211/obamacare-and-afford...

If you're talking about out of work coal miners or factory workers, then they're going to need to be retrained and reeducated. Those jobs aren't coming back to save them. Yet the people they elect are overwhelmingly against public funding for education or any kind of public assistance for that matter.

> If you're talking about out of work coal miners or factory workers, then they're going to need to be retrained and reeducated. Those jobs aren't coming back to save them. Yet the people they elect are overwhelmingly against public funding for education or any kind of public assistance for that matter.

I hear this, if you'll forgive me, rather tone-deaf refrain a lot from people who are highly educated. Practically speaking, 1) The older you are, the harder it is to retrain and then restart your career and 2) a lot of people just plain aren't education-oriented in the first place, to put it politely, and won't benefit much from retraining no matter how hard you try.

Education might be a partial solution for future generations but it will do nothing for the people who are suffering right now. And they know it.

Yes we need higher taxes and more laws. How many laws do you think it takes to make us good people?

Oh, I'd say enough so that you don't go into financial ruin when you get sick.

Not too many.

- Bring back the public interest requirements for broadcast licenses to shut down the right wing crazy on the airwaves.

- Restrict ownership of media outlets.

- Require that election districts overlap with contiguous existing geographically defined areas. Assign designation of districts to an independent commission and make it a crime for a political official to interfere with the commission.

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