So thinks a liberal Democrat friend of mine who told this story to bolster her point. She has family in Borough Park, Brooklyn, and at a lunch, or a meeting, or something, one of her relatives got into a discussion about the welfare state. Turns out that virtually every one of the people he was talking to: 1) were voting Republican because they’re against the welfare state, and 2) are on Section 8 assistance. Her point was that the Republicans were “geniuses” for getting the lower-middle class, virtually all of whom are on some sort of government assistance, to, in her words, “vote against their interests.”
That’s true, if you believe that “their interests” constitute continuing dependence on the government. If you go with the fixed-size-pie vision of the world, then this might make some sense. But in reality, it’s yet another reason for the Republicans to focus on growth, at the same time we’re trying to cut spending and deal with entitlements. The two programs are complementary: cutting the size of government in the right places will boost economic growth, lifting more people out of poverty.
