In Reply to: But why? posted by blindness on September 20, 2025 at 07:28:02
My AI Overview boils it down to the following (side note: can we trust an AI?):
"... poor people continued to reject government assistance primarily because of racial resentment, a belief that such programs disproportionately benefit minorities, and a deep-seated distrust of government."
And then it lists some contributing factors, all related, and including:
- Racial resentment
- Maintaining perceived racial hierarchies
- Anti-government ideology
- The "cost" metaphor, in which people cite the expense of government programs as a proxy for racial resentment
- and even "Sadopopulism," in which political leaders win support from poor white voters by stoking racial resentments, only to enact policies that ultimately harm the very same voters.
In other words, the author posits that a lot of poor white voters are rejecting government assistance simply to feel that "other people" still have it worse. Those poor white voters may not have much, but they want to make sure that the "other people" continue to have less.