I’ve been thinking this morning about, shockingly enough, the election.  I’ve got some sketches of an idea that I wanted to write down, thinking maybe I could flesh them out as I wrote, but most likely they won’t get sketched out and simply won’t make any sense.

People have talked about how its odd that many people who vote Republican are voting against their own self-interest- specifically poor people voting for a party that (theoretically) gives tax cuts to the rich and cuts government programs that help the poor.  The flip side is that many people who vote Democrat also vote against their own self-interest: Think of any weathy celebrity, basically.  There are a bunch of reasons why, I think.  The one I’m particularly interested in this morning is a matter of public pressure.

I’m about to make a lot of assumptions here, none of which I will back up with fact, so bear with me.   Nobody likes to acknowledge that they’re poor, and nobody likes to appear to be selfish.  This makes those who have little less likely to vote for someone who would give them more, as its, in a way, asking for help and we look down on that.  Those that have a lot, yachting around their 100-acre rooftop pool, guiltily suggest we distribute the income more evenly.

Any interestng example to ponder the latter types are celebrity versus non-celebrity rich people.  I think that being in the public eye amplifies this tendency to want to not appear selfish, etc.  Non-famous rich people, whose opinions aren’t teh focus of public attention, are free to vote to keep their money, thank you very much.  If they feel like talking to someone about why, they’re free to, but no reporter is going to come up and ask them who they’re going to vote for.

Amplifying this, celebrities, for the most part, owe their financial success to the public’s opinion of them. Conservatives, though they might not agree with a celebrity’s position, likely won’t take it out on him in the box office or the sporting arena or wherever.  Despite being buddies with Hugo Chavez, who is selling out his country’s future with the help of the currently high oil prices, Sean Penn and Danny Glover don’t suffer at all.

Of course, I don’t think there are any poor celebrities to offer any counterbalance on the other side.   But whatevah.