While I was doing research on cultural progressive activists, I picked up certain sayings being repeated among many of the respondents. One of those sayings was that conservatives and Christians are people who vote against their own interest. For example, one person said of conservatives that their “willingness to act against their own interests will eventually doom them.” Another made a comment about “an economically underprivileged woman who was still going to vote for Bush, obviously against her own best interest, simply because Bush opposed abortion.”

I had not previously heard of the concept of voting against one’s own interests. It turns out I have been living under a rock. It seems it is quite common for progressives to talk about those voting for Republicans doing that. It is easy to find in places like Salon, Occupy Democrats, Huffington Post and Forward Progressives. What I was reading in the responses of my research subjects was reflective of a larger attitude common among progressives who are trying to explain why more people do not support goals the progressives endorse. When I read this attitude among my respondents, I found it to be pretty arrogant — and I find it pretty arrogant today, too

These comments are often addressed specifically to individuals of lower economic status. Those who presume to know what is best for them tend to be more highly educated and wealthier. What we have, then, in other words, is the wealthy telling the less fortunate what they ought to do. In any other circumstance I suspect this would be described as “blaming the victim.” I mean, at what other time is it considered okay for wealthy people to tell poor people they are too stupid to know what is good for them? I honestly wonder if the people speaking this way have engaged in enough self-reflection to consider how arrogant they sound.

Even If

Let us assume for the sake of argument that these upper-class progressives are correct: that liberal programs are better for the economy than are conservative approaches. If so, then on that basis they could legitimately believe that the non-wealthy who vote Republican are acting against their own interests. But this argument limits human interests to materialist concerns. That may fit progressives’ priorities, but not everyone shares those priorities.

Many people are convinced it does no good to have a great economy when their culture fails to encourage the morality and discipline it takes to have a fulfilled life. Because these values are so crucial in their minds, voting to support them is voting for their own self-interest, regardless of the negative short-term economic effect their votes might have. When the religious values of those in the lower classes are attacked, it denigrates their culture. It’s a judgment against what they value most highly. Have progressives considered that?

There are plenty of other issues beyond material concerns that can legitimately drive non-progressive votes. They might decide that they are safer with a non-leftist criminal justice approach, or with a more aggressive foreign policy. Why should anyone assume they know what is better for those in the lower classes than they do? I don’t want us to forget, either, that I’ve been assuming for the sake of argument that progressives’ economic solutions for the disadvantaged are correct — a big assumption indeed.

Other People’s Shoes

I have my political opinions, too. I’ve made it clear that I am no supporter of Trump, that I think his supporters are wrong and that he is the wrong man to lead our country. (But this is not an endorsement of Clinton either.) However, I refuse to tell his supporters they’re voting against their own interests. I cannot see what they see in Trump, but they must see something. If I care about understanding these persons and their concerns, I have to try to understand why they would enthusiastically vote for him, rather than my assuming paternalistically that I know what is best for them.

So my approach is to respect individuals’ prerogative to make their own decisions, even when I do not agree with them. I do not give up my right to disagree with them, but I keep in mind that they’re in a better position to know what is good for them than I. Remembering that helps brings a measure of humility to my approach if and when I ever do end up in a conversation with another person about his or her political choices.

People with a progressive mindset would do well to do the same. My hope is that we could put to bed the knee-jerk assumption that we know what is best for the poor better than they know themselves. When we hear people speaking with that kind of condescension we should confront it. They should feel some embarrassment over it.