Why Did The Rs Win The House? Because Average Americans Naively Identify with Rich People

[stopbush]

This article from 2005 probably explains the main reason the Rs retook the House last week:


Average Americans Naively Identify with Rich People
By Carol Towarnicky
PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS (from the Tallahassee Democrat Posted on Thu, May. 12, 2005)

I was 12 when I learned the facts of life: My family wasn't rich. Until then, I thought we
were. After all, we always had fresh fruit to eat, my standard for economic well being at
the time.

In fact, my father's wages as a firefighter qualified me for a college scholarship from
Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty. That government handout helped me move up a
few rungs on the economic ladder.

But I'm still a long way from rich. What's more, since I don't play the lottery or invest in
risky stocks, I have no expectation of EVER being wealthy.

The difference between me and many other middle-class Americans is ... I know it.

For years, I've been trying to figure out why so many people seem to identify with those
who make 10, 20, even 100 times more than they ever will - while dumping on those
only slightly less successful than they are.

Apparently, I'm in a distinct minority: Lots of Americans believe they will be rich someday.
Professors Michael J. Graetz and Ian Shapiro note that many Americans overestimate
their wealth relative to others, as well as their prospects.

Graetz and Shapiro's book, "Death by a Thousand Cuts," tries to answer the question
of how a majority of Americans came to hate the estate tax, which was paid by the
heirs of only 1 percent of the people who died in 2004.

Language - renaming it the "death tax" - played a big role, as did the idea that the tax
is unfair double taxation. But opponents of the estate tax also appear to have taken
advantage of some Americans' mistaken belief that the tax would affect their families.
Right now, only heirs to estates of $1.5 million or more pay any estate tax at all. If that
cap were raised to $3.5 million, the revenue could cover half the eventual shortfall for
Social Security.

Why would so many Americans believe they would be rich enough to worry about this
tax?

Maybe they're living in a dreamworld: the American Dreamworld.

As cited in a research paper by economists Roland Benabou and Jean Tirole,
Americans already believe it's easier to go from "rags to riches" in America than it really
is: Economic mobility from one generation to another - the kind I experienced - is not
much different here these days than in many countries in Europe. But in America, we
believe in it more than Europeans do, and overlook a lot of evidence to the contrary.
Many more Americans than Europeans, it appears, subscribe to the idea that people
get what they deserve. This has upsides - Americans work harder and are more optimistic
than Europeans. But many Americans also believe that if they don't "make it," it's
their own fault.

They're less likely to see the very real barriers to moving up that exist. Maybe they're
unable to see that they aren't doing as well as they think, that there are limits to how
far they can climb.

It may also lead them to not recognize or "forget" the help they've gotten, from good
schools, government programs or middle-class tax breaks - and to resent aid for those
who are struggling.

A survey of world values found that only 29 percent of Americans believe that the poor
are trapped in their circumstances - only 30 percent said it was luck and not education
or effort that makes the difference in economic success.

By contrast, 60 percent of Europeans think the poor are trapped and 54 percent think
that luck is a big factor. It follows that 60 percent of Americans think the poor "are lazy
or lack willpower," compared to 26 percent of Europeans.

No wonder Americans are less likely than Europeans to favor government supports, the
so-called "welfare state." No wonder they often don't see, or vote, their "self-interest" -
they don't see where they really are on the economic ladder.

Don't get me wrong: The American Dream is a powerful motivator. But now and then
we could use a wake-up call to that other reality.

http://www.yale.edu/macmillan/shapiro/tallahassee.pdf

[treestar]

1. I've heard REpublicans say it right out

They want that freedom for when they are rich.

They also think any government restriction is what gets in their way of being rich, which is really naive, IMO. They assume they are the ones who would make it to the top in a free for all.

[Ozymanithrax]

2. If that were true, they would have won in 2008 and 2006.

I'm not saying that American don't put the rich on a pedastal. Look at Television shows, the poor are always made to look stupid or lazy. Most of the characters that might be called middle class are actually affluent, or live that way.

Bit identifying with the wealthy was not the reason they won in 2012. It was the economy and fear.

[stopbush]

4. Setting aside your reference to 2012, you miss the point.

People can be fearful of their economic situation and still vote for politicians who have declared openly that they are planning on taking away economic help from the very people voting for them. They do so because the common folk look around their neighborhood and figure that there are people worse off than them, so they assume they must be doing OK. They assume that government help is going to "those people," not realizing that they are counted among "those people" themselves.

They think that the reason they're having trouble making ends meet is because they are taxed to heavily to give "those people" a free ride at their expense. They don't realize that they themselves are getting a bit of a free ride as well.

Take a look at how Fed tax revenues are redistributed back to the states. Only 17 states pay more to the Feds in taxes than they get back in largess from the Feds. In CA, we overpay to the tune of $48-BILLION a year. Our tax dollars end up building bridges to nowhere in Alaska and supporting programs in states that keep taxes lower, secure in the knowledge that they can freeload off CA, NY, NJ, MA and other states that overpay in Fed taxes.

It's easy to live in West Virginia and make fun of CA being "disfunctional" with our huge state budget deficits when the Robert E Byrd Highway is getting it's unneeded yearly repaving with tax revenues collected from the people of CA and redirected to the good people of WVA.

2010 was no different than 2006 or 2008 in this respect. The only difference was that the Rs didn't make such a big deal about the economy crashing in 06 & 08 because Junior was president at the time, and it wouldn't have served R causes to paint their sitting pres as the economic disaster he was.

Now that Ds control the WH, it's back to the standard RW memes that play upon the basic ignorance and prejudice of Americans (not to mention our knack of finding a minority group scapegoat upon which to heap problems of our own creation).

[naaman fletcher]

3. well,

"But I'm still a long way from rich. What's more, since I don't play the lottery or invest in
risky stocks, I have no expectation of EVER being wealthy."

If that's here attitude she certainly won't ever be rich. Look, I am not against her overall thesis, but the vast, vast majority of the rich did not get their by inheritence or by playing stocks or the lottery.

[stopbush]

7. ??? Roughly half of the rich in America inherited their wealth.

Where did you get the idea that "the vast majority of the rich did not get rich" by inheriting their wealth?

[naaman fletcher]

8. it's like 16%

is the last figure that I saw. And while my lone experience does not mean much, I know probably 30 millionaires and only one of them inherited it. The majority were other real estate developers, scientists who invented something, or guys who did well for 25 years in the corporate world.

[provis99]

14. actually, about 80% of millionaires inherit their wealth.

social mobility is worse here than in ANY European country, including Russia.

[naaman fletcher]

15. I'd love to see you back up that claim. Nt.

[Stevenmarc]

5. What was the American Dream is now the American Fantasy

There was a time where you could substantiate the concept of American Greatness but now we have become the Culture of the Mediocre. In pretty much every quality of life issue America has consistently dropped down the list the only thing that we seem to do really well is setting the bar lower.

[thelordofhell]

6. Ummmm......Because it's a natural political cycle

With rare exceptions

[leftstreet]

9. What bullshit. "Average" Americans don't think they'll become wealthy

"Average" Americans aren't the ones denying the reality of class struggle.

It's the political base and "middle class" desperate to believe the system will surely, surely work for them

[kctim]

10. Pure BS excuse from the

'we know what is in your best interest better than you do' crowd.

Americans are less likely than Europeans to favor big government taking care of us because our Constitution guarantees individual rights and freedoms above all else. Our Constitution has conditioned us to believe in individualism, which is why so many believe keeping their individual rights and freedoms are at the top of what is in their own best interest and why how much they make or have, is not.

It is our history and changing it will not happen overnight.

[kctim]

11. Pure BS excuse from the

'we know what is in your best interest better than you do' crowd.

Americans are less likely than Europeans to favor big government taking care of us because our Constitution guarantees individual rights and freedoms above all else. Our Constitution has conditioned us to believe in individualism, which is why so many believe keeping their individual rights and freedoms are at the top of what is in their own best interest and why how much they make or have, is not.

It is our history and changing it will not happen overnight.

[OHdem10]

12. The Republicans promote blurring the lines. At town halls

starting in 80s at least, the idea: Middle Class
is a state of mine not a salary. When courting the
RR especially, we all have middle class values.
I have to give it to Republican Party, they have put
a lot of people into office from lower and working
class backgrounds. I am going to be fair no matter
how I feel about the Republican Ideology. They have
learned the importance of being comfortable around
and how to approachch the working class. This was half
their battle. After they are the party of Country Club
but they have been able to recreate their Image so they
appeal to Blue Collar Working Class. They are the party
of the rich but they do not come off as rich and snobbish.
I may not approve of all their tactics, but they have
learned cultural differences and are making them work
for them. You can have your differences with Boehner
but any working class person can approach him talk to
him and delude themselves into believing they are the
same social status as he is.

Why is Palin so popular???? approachable.

Now Democrats once could do this.
FDr was not only rich, he was a Blue Blood. The Working
Class loved him. He was seen above all as approachable.

Famous story: As FDR's funeral procession was moving
down the street, a reported spotted a man standing
in work clothes with tears in his eyes. Did you know
the president,said the Reporter. No Sir, BUT HE KNEW ME.
That speaks volumes.

When Eleanor would go around the country checking on
the Programs, the people felt completely at ease walking
up to her and talking.

Now if anyone had the Right to be a Pretentious Snob.
The Roosevelts had the Money, the BloodLine. Instead
they were down to earth real people.

The Republican Party seems to grasp this much better
than the Democratic Party.

Charisma is the cherry on top. First Approchablity.
If Palin had just Charisma she would have flopped.

[Phentex]

13. There's also just plain snobbery attached to it...

if they let others know they are Republicans, others will see them as wealthy. I don't know how many of them think they *are* rich but they certainly don't mind being attached to it.

[sad sally]

16. Legalized gambling - State lottery games -

made Average Americans think they could become rich overnight just by spending the kids lunch money on the daily numbers.
Check out the number of cars and senior buses parked at an Indian casino - almost everybody there thinks they'll be the lucky one to go home RICH. Look at the ads with beautiful young people, laughing, smiling, eating in fancy dining rooms and winning a big handful of cash.
The ads and reality are completely different. Sad that State governments use the lie of a get rich scheme to lure so mamy people into gambling, many who become addicted to it...

[Johonny]

17. This is the reason candidates talk about the middle class and not the poor

most people think they are middle class even when the evidence to the outside observer is so clear that they are not. This idea is long understood by those that run political campaigns.

[felix_numinous]

18. So true,

the republicans I have talked to seem to practice a sort of hero worship of their representatives, have such a distorted view of their character that they identify with them. So attempting any constructive criticism results in them taking it personally.

They actually over- identify with republicans in office because this is a symptom of being an authoritarian. To question power or authority is to question themselves....interesting.