When economic self-interest and ideology part ways

The other day I was speaking with a man who commented that the proliferation of Obama bumperstickers on luxury cars (not to mention the fact that the very rich in blue communities had flocked to the Obama banner) comforted him that Obama would not destroy the US economy by trying to nationalize it.  After all, he said, one has to assume that all these people are voting for, not against, their own self-interests.  I don’t think he’s right.

The evidence for my belief that wealthy liberals have a death wish is Hollywood.  We’ve all noticed that an oft repeated pattern coming out of Hollywood.  First, Hollywood makes movies that assault the armed forces, that attack Republicans, that skew the president, and that celebrate evil people; second, these movies are dismal box office failures; and third, they keep bouncing up to make the same types of movies.  Economic interest would dictate that Hollywood stop producing these losers and focus on movies that make money — which, regardless of genre (romance, tear-jerker, adventure, etc.), tend to be somewhat patriotic and pro-military.  But, noooo.  The Hollywoodies’ ideological fervor propels them to keep churning out movies no one wants to see.

And so it is, I think, with the rich blue people.  At an ideological level, they’ve bought into Bush hatred, and they’ve drunk the Obama kool-aid.  As a result, they’ve become incapable of putting their self-interest first.

One can admire the rich blues for their altruism, but one certainly shouldn’t assume that, if they’re voting for Obama, they believe that he will oversee economic changes that will operate to their benefit, or to the benefit of those who would like to join the ranks of America’s rich.  Once ideology becomes strong enough, it apparently overwhelms the survival instinct.  (Witness the Islamist suicide bombers for the reductio ad absurdem of ideology overriding our innate life force.)