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This is too true. Here in Minnesota, we had a state representative equate food stamp recipients to animals in two separate speeches. In her rural district, almo

This is too true. Here in Minnesota, we had a state representative equate food stamp recipients to animals in two separate speeches. In her rural district, almost twenty percent are on welfare programs and most residents are under the poverty line and qualify for food stamps. They still vote for her in spite of statewide coverage of her statements. The attitude that everyone else is lazy and abusing the system seems most common in poor rural regions that depend the most on benefits. It usually has racial, anti-urban overtones that imply "we're only suffering because of THOSE people who don't look like us." It's a form of scapegoating.

RougeFemme 14y ago
Agreed. And the people receiving disability don't recognize it as the entitlement program that is.
- MartinCron 14y ago
  Most beneficiaries of entitlement programs don't recognize them as such.
  - clarkevans 14y ago
    Perhaps those who are receiving entitlement (and advocating for its abolition), may be using reasoning that you don't recognize. For example, could some of these recipients be very guilty about their use, and, are voting to end them because they don't see any other way out for themselves? Accepting a free handout is a very hard thing in our culture, especially for those that know the gift they receive was forcibly taken from others.
jiggy2011 14y ago
That's an interesting point and I notice similar behaviour in the UK. People will talk up a politician who promises to "end the benefits culture" despite being on benefits themselves. The reasoning is usually along the lines of "oh he's just talking about those other people on benefits who don't deserve them. Not good hard-nonworking folks like us"
scarmig 14y ago
That's a bit of an incomplete description you give, though. Poorer regions that more benefits do tend to vote for people to cut those benefits. But as Andrew Gelman has demonstrated, it's not really the people getting the benefits who want to cut them: it's the professional and ruling class in the area who do. Nearly everywhere the lower classes do want more benefits, but the big difference between regions is what the powerful people want.

RougeFemme 14y ago

Agreed. And the people receiving disability don't recognize it as the entitlement program that is.

MartinCron 14y ago
Most beneficiaries of entitlement programs don't recognize them as such.
- clarkevans 14y ago
  Perhaps those who are receiving entitlement (and advocating for its abolition), may be using reasoning that you don't recognize. For example, could some of these recipients be very guilty about their use, and, are voting to end them because they don't see any other way out for themselves? Accepting a free handout is a very hard thing in our culture, especially for those that know the gift they receive was forcibly taken from others.

jiggy2011 14y ago

That's an interesting point and I notice similar behaviour in the UK. People will talk up a politician who promises to "end the benefits culture" despite being on benefits themselves. The reasoning is usually along the lines of "oh he's just talking about those other people on benefits who don't deserve them. Not good hard-nonworking folks like us"

scarmig 14y ago

That's a bit of an incomplete description you give, though. Poorer regions that more benefits do tend to vote for people to cut those benefits. But as Andrew Gelman has demonstrated, it's not really the people getting the benefits who want to cut them: it's the professional and ruling class in the area who do. Nearly everywhere the lower classes do want more benefits, but the big difference between regions is what the powerful people want.