Principles
by digby
Eric Alterman has an interesting column this week on the subject of liberal “principles.” I’ll leave it to you to read the whole thing. It’s a perennial topic but always relevant.
I did want to discuss one little observation, however:
Funny how arguments based exclusively on “principle” tend to be consistent with the material interests of the people pushing them.
I immediately nodded my head but then realized that really isn’t true, is it? After all, we’ve all spent years trying to unravel why so many members of the working and middle class don’t vote their own financial self-interest. Many boring (and not so boring) books have been written on the topic. And while there are many wealthy greedheads out there, there are a fair number of wealthy liberals who vote against their direct financial interest.
But there is something to what he says. The one group of people whose “principled” vote lines up perfectly with its financial interest are wealthy conservatives. It’s possible that a few of them would hold the same beliefs about the social compact if they were poor, but I doubt it. These are people for whom the “principle” is simply that they are entitled to as much as they can get their hands on. Most of you have probably known a few rich folks who get visibly agitated when someone brings up the idea of higher taxes for people making over 250k a year. Sure, it will only result in their not being allowed to add a percentage point or two to their fat portfolio or buy a new Mercedes this year instead of next year. But it’s the principle of the thing, don’t you know.
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