Every time I talk to a Democrat about Republicans, they say something about how, “Republicans always vote against their own interests,” which is interesting because Democrats definitely vote against their own interests.
So, what does it mean to vote against your own interests?
It really depends on what you want, and what you believe to be true.
Do you want financial success?
Do you want individual liberty?
Do you want cultural hegemony?
Do you want your enemies to be destroyed?
Economics
Republican-controlled governments cut taxes in a very specific way: They cut everyone’s taxes, cut programs that benefit the poor and middle class, and then passively allow tax cuts to anyone who is not wealthy to expire. The net result is that the wealthy end up with a lot more money. Wealthy people tend to hold on to additional wealth because they don’t need to spend it, so these tax cuts slow down the economy, which causes an overall downward trend. Many Americans, however, see themselves being on the brink of striking it rich, and so they see these tax cuts as beneficial to them, personally (while I agree that they probably are not about to strike it rich, there’s nothing attractive about that kind of negativity). Moreover, they’ve been taught that any effort by the government to move wealth from the rich to the poor is communism/socialism, and that communism/socialism will destroy the economy (this belief is also popular among Democrats).
Finally, racists believe that the US government uses progressive taxation systems (i.e., where the wealthy pay a higher percentage of taxes than people with less money) as a sneaky means of giving money to ethnic minorities (especially Black people) and taking it away from white people, and anti-Semites believe the same thing, but as a sneaky means of siphoning money away from Christians and giving it to Jewish people and their allies (which does often include Black people according to this conspiracy theory). If you don’t believe that a change in the tax code truly benefits you financially, are you really voting against your own interests if you oppose it?
If you are a racist, an anti-communist, or someone who believes you are about to be rich, voting Republican is not against your financial interests. Keep in mind that these ideas might not occur together in one person; i.e., you could have someone who is anti-communist and believes they are about to be rich, but they are not racist. They’d have to be willing to tolerate racists if they vote Republican, but if you’re living in a conservative community, tolerating racists has been normalized and is required for us all to function under capitalism (e.g., to hold a job) and be on good terms with our families, so you can see where it might not be a deal-killer.
Democrat-controlled governments create more relatively more economic success for the average person because they support progressive taxation — a tax system that charges a person a higher percentage of their income as tax the higher their income. However, they only support this to a point. Democrats would never support a system of taxation that reduced the power of the capitalist class (synonymous with “globalists”). Because progressive taxation allows people with less money to have a little more — even giving some a credit — and because people with less money typically spend that extra money, progressive taxation creates a more healthy economy with more money flowing between people at a higher speed. On the other hand, though, it doesn’t really allow working class people to thrive and even if there’s an issue that is extremely harmful to people, Democrats won’t solve it if it harms the financial position of the very rich.
Regarding thriving: Factually, the bureaucracy associated with doing business — which is fully supported by the Democrats — is severely prejudiced against the truly small business which cannot afford the army of financial bureaucrats and lawyers that big businesses have on staff. This isn’t to say that there shouldn’t be rules, but rather that it would be simple to both simplify the process of compliance and relieve small businesses of the financial burden of compliance. Republicans at least give lip service to the idea of easing the burden of bureaucracy — though, in practice, they really mean deregulation which ends up empowering the rich and harming the working class.
So, if you want to really thrive, if you want the power of the very wealthy (which is based on money) to be curtailed, or if you want issues that are extremely harmful to everyone to be solved even if they threaten the financial position of the very rich, voting Democrat is not in your own interests.
Liberty
Positive Freedom is the freedom to do something, such as the freedom to get an abortion or the freedom to buy a gun. It might included less controversial things, like the freedom to practice your religion, or shave your head. Under our capitalism-based society, positive freedoms are frequently curtailed by your ability to pay.
Negative Freedom is the freedom from restrictions and impediments, which are typical caused by other people. Perhaps they make a law saying you can’t buy a certain thing (like a gun), or perhaps they physically stop you from going to church; these would be restrictions or impediments that would damage your freedom. As with positive freedom, you get more negative freedom under capitalism the more money you have.
Cultural Hegemony is the freedom to force other people to live in a way that allows you both positive or negative freedom. (Apologies to all the Marxists who are mad about that definition.) For example, if I want to live in a Christian society, other people are infringing on my freedom by not being Christians; if I force them to comply with Christianity, I am increasing my own personal freedom by depriving them of theirs. The most common kind of cultural hegemony is just influencing culture to define certain kinds of behavior as deviant, and others as normal. Normal people get all kinds of privileges that deviant people are denied.
The truth is that people usually frame “freedom” in such a way that it makes certain kinds of behavior deviant and others normal; i.e., nearly all discussion of freedom is an attempt at creating cultural hegemony. It’s not surprising, then, that since rich people have the most control in our society, that money is seen as a very normal justification of any and all behavior. We are a democracy, they say, but it is also perfectly natural that rich people can “influence” politicians with great big wheelbarrows full of cash. While pedophilia is reviled by most people, we also see it as normal that wealthy people can get away with it; we don’t like that they get away with it, but we somehow have accepted that it is just the way the world works.
Individual freedom isn’t really a thing that exists. Rather, there is an interplay between my freedom and someone else’s freedom. Even my right to live is balanced against someone else’s right to kill me. That may seem like a silly example, yet there are many situations where cultural norms allow someone to be killed, and a human being is just as dead if you shoot them with a gun or use your economic might to force them into a situation where they starve to death or are exposed to deadly chemicals.
That brings us a little closer to the truth, which is that my freedom should be curtailed if it harms you. The harm of shooting someone, or financially supporting an institution that will then use your money to harm someone (e.g., Chik-fil-A, Hobby Lobby, or the Biden administration with it’s $14.3 billion in support of Israel’s genocide against Palestine) is obvious.
What’s less obvious, but also real, is the harm of cultural degeneration. This phrase is typically used by racists to indicate that their supposedly superior culture is being harmed by the inferior cultures of other people, but that’s not what I’m talking about. Instead, I’m talking about how capitalism commodifies and thus cheapens culture as it systematically assigns everything a dollar value and repackages it for sale. Globalism exposes people to other cultures (which is good) as a side-effect of this commodification, but ultimately destroys meaning and elevates the sensational at the cost of real culture; real culture helps bind people together and give them meaning. Capitalism aims to atomize the individual — make us each completely separate from everyone else — and then make every aspect of our relationships with each other transactional.
The Democratic Party cannot meaningfully speak against the cultural degeneration caused by capitalist globalism because it is on the side of capitalist globalism. The Republican Party, on the other hand, purposefully conflates the cultural degeneration caused by capitalist globalism with the imaginary, nonsensical enemies that it is constantly lying about to its constituents (e.g., saying that “the Jews” are destroying “white culture” even though it is really capitalism commodifying everyone’s culture). Voting for either option is voting against your own interests in terms of cultural degeneration.
Regarding freedom more generally, both Democrats and Republicans are actively harming other people with their lifestyle and imposing their lifestyle on others. I could get down in the weeds and talk about specific “freedoms” but that’s the main point. I will grant you that Republicans are worse about obviously trying to force their way of life on others, as well as being slightly worse about having completely unsubstantiated paranoid delusions about other people forcing their way of life onto Republicans (e.g., no one is going to force you to be gay).
I’m tired of them jamming it down my throat!
Republicans
Genocide
Most people aren’t in favor of genocide, which is why some fascist is always telling people that there’s absolutely no choice but to do genocide. What’s neat, though, is that fascists are never going to tell you to genocide your real enemies because (spoiler alert) they are your real enemies.
But hey, if a fascist has been whispering in your ear, and now you believe that Palestinians, trans people, Black people, Jewish people, atheists or whatever are out to destroy you and must be eliminated, then I guess voting for a Democrat or a Republican is in your interest!
Conclusion
If you are a Democrat and you’re walking around talking about how Republicans are stupid because they vote against their own interests, it is time to stop and reflect on your own errors instead.
How can you say to your brother, `Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Matthew 7: 3-5