Dwayne Monroe wrote:
>
>
> Doesn't anyone vote for their considered
> self-interest?
>
Yes. Black people. They're judgment may be wrong or right in a given case, but I do believe that more than any defined "subgroup" in the U.S. blacks vote in what they consider to be their self-interest.
As is always the case with practically all voters, perception of self-interest being served by a particular party (however originally grounded in reality) is apt to change more slowly than the reality. (I'm not sure, but I believe in 1932 a majority of black voters voted republican; one of the large factors in the 1936 election was the huge increase in the black vote, all going to Roosevelt (grounded in economic judgment, not the "race question").
My own view is that (as with other groups needing progressive change) the continued adherence of black voters to the DP is a mistake -- but it is important to recognize that it is a _rational_ mistake (if it is a mistake), based on their considered view of their self-interests, not a vote based on a politician's appeal to their love of watermelon. On the other hand, large numbers of white workers seem to vote against their considered self-interest, responding instead to appeals on the basis of their racist fantasies, their religion, their moral preferences (homophobic, sexist, anti-abortion, etc). A labor historian at the University of Illinois used to begin talks to labor audiences by asking them to imagine a CEO saying, "Now I know Reagan (or Bush or whatever Republican candidate) would be more in my self-interest, but because I really believe in the right to choose I'm going to vote Democratic"?
Carrol
> DRM
>
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