There was a recent diary here that referred to the Republicans as the “Me” Party. Back in 2004, people observed that the wealthier you were, the more likely you were to vote for Bush. Even so, there are quite a few Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters who have high incomes and financial stability. For example, a recent study by the Pew Research Center suggests that equal numbers — 41% — of “Enterprisers” (conservative, free-market-oriented Republicans) and of “Liberals” have household incomes of $75K or higher.
Where do these differences among the relatively well-off come from? One big cause seems apparent. Too many Republicans don’t seem to have a clear sense of “enough”.
For me, and just about everyone else I know, “enough” is really pretty clear. It’s the state you have when you don’t truly want or need more, and are fairly content with what you have.
I have a nice house, in a beautiful part of Colorado, that’s big enough to hold 4 family members (and five cats) comfortably. Any bigger, and it’d be that much more of a pain to clean. It’d also accumulate more junk. I have “enough” housing.
I am kept quite busy by the other three family members, and when I’m not, I’m well satisfied by reading good books, playing games, taking walks by the lake, and things like that. So I have “enough” things to do. My problem, if I have one, is feeling like I have too many things to do, not too few!
We have reliable transportation — one car kept in good condition, plus walking and bicycling if I feel like it. I have “enough” ways to get around.
Overall we consider ourselves fairly fortunate. We can’t buy everything we want, but by and large, these are things that we can juggle. Our needs are met, as are most of our wants. Those things we do want, but can’t afford right now, are ones we can plan for and reasonably expect to get someday.
In short, we have “enough”.
When you have “enough”, and know it, money can’t get a death grip on you. Sure, money’s still very important — you may still worry about making “enough” to support yourself and your family’s lifestyle. So you may hold on very strongly to a job, career, or business that provides the income to let you have “enough”. But there’s a very clear limit — both logical and emotional — to the time and energy you need to devote to your income.
By contrast, people who don’t have this sense of “enough” get on a relentless treadmill. Each additional bit of income adds more “stuff” to their lives — but it doesn’t satisfy. So more “stuff” is needed, and more money — but it still doesn’t satisfy. Without “enough”, there’s no limit on this process. Frustration is inevitable.
There is a demographic sometimes called the “pre-rich”. These are the people who believe wealth is just around the corner — but they aren’t quite there yet. The number of “pre-rich” vastly exceeds the number of truly wealthy, which tells you something right there: most of them will never become truly wealthy. Most of the “pre-rich” expect something, and desire something, they will not (in many cases, cannot) get. Yet they are not satisfied with what they do have, or can get. These are people who don’t have “enough”, even at significantly higher incomes than most people in the United States, and have no real prospect of getting a sense of “enough”.
GOP talking points about money resonate strongly with people like this. After all, they heavily emphasize two things: (1) you’re guaranteed success (just work hard), so long as (2) you get rid of barriers (usually, the government, various despised special-interest groups, or both). In other words you can get all the wealth you want, and then some, if only you work like a dog and make sure the government and those money-grubbing special interests are out of the loop. Of course, none of this helps people who don’t develop a sense of “enough”. All they’d have to show for it is fingers they’ve worked to the bone, seething resentment towards many other people, and a life without deep satisfaction of any sort.
Having “enough” means built-in resistance to the GOP appeals and to the “pre-rich” mindset. Once you have “enough”, you don’t need to have a big tax cut to be satisfied. Your taxes can bounce around a bit and it literally will not matter, just as your everyday expenses can bounce around a bit and it will not matter. You can fall well short of huge wealth (maybe even short of middle-class), and it will not matter.
After a while, I hope we will all be able to say “enough, already” to the GOP, and they will lose a lot of their power.
