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I don't disagree with anything you said, but my intuition tells me you're possibly under-estimating the proportion of voters who routinely vote against their se
by epgui 4y ago
I don't disagree with anything you said, but my intuition tells me you're possibly under-estimating the proportion of voters who routinely vote against their self-interest without realizing it.
It wouldn't surprise me at all if that was >30% of voters. Assuming that number I just made up was correct, just for the sake of argument, the parent comment's question is very interesting: what does that say about voters' agency?
- nonethewiser 4y ago> you're possibly under-estimating the proportion of voters who routinely vote against their self-interest without realizing it. Well if you know what people want better than themselves maybe we should just make you King.
- robertlagrant 4y agoIt's worth considering that you're not really talking about their own self-interest. You're talking about what you think they should want. For example, anyone who likes the non-employee status of Uber driving will vote against it. Anyone who wants to be an employee is voting for lower wages, although higher benefits. They may prefer that, but not everyone does.
- uoaei 4y agoBy that same token, we're all only talking about what people think they should want, and not necessarily what will really benefit them. By extension, the argument becomes that it doesn't matter how well people are informed, only that they act on the limited information they have. I prefer to emphasize efforts to inform the public better, rather than leaving them out to dry when their hopes are not reflected in the outcomes of such things.
- robertlagrant 4y agoI agree. But that's different to claiming to know better than the people voting what is their own interest.
- epgui 4y agoI don't disagree with you, and I think everything you just said was obvious... but you failed to entertain the question. The question was "Assume that X, then is Y true?", the question was not "Is X true?".