You overestimate Americans. Many American workers would look at these things, think “wow if these things that directly help me happen, I’ll lose my job.” And then they stop thinking and vote Republican
A previous neighbor of mine has been struggling with her health both physical and mental for years and as a result has a very hard time holding down jobs. That makes it very difficult for her to manage her finances and so he’s always just a step away from being evicted from her 500 sq ft studio apartment that she shares with her giant dog, 2 cats, and bird. The city is known to have extraordinarily high rent due to a complete shortage of housing and zoning rules that has been going on for decades now.
There’s a proposition to introduce more housing in the city by building mid-rise apartment complexes near downtown which will help lower housing costs, especially near downtown. Every business in the city is against it because they want to save the parking lots and empty storefronts.
This neighbor, who is exactly the type of person this proposition is aimed at helping along with the rest of us, is out on the street corners holding signs and telling people to vote it down. When I asked her why, she said because it’s going to lower property values…
I’m not entirely sure about that.
My partner just saw a nextdoor post from her just a couple hours ago and there are so many other people agreeing with “we need to save the public parking spaces and keep property values up”.
Enough people to be a non-negligible fraction of the population are like that. This can be confirmed both by election results and by taking a short walk (or visiting any business) in a suburb or rural area.
You overestimate Americans. Many American workers would look at these things, think “wow if these things that directly help me happen, I’ll lose my job.” And then they stop thinking and vote Republican
A previous neighbor of mine has been struggling with her health both physical and mental for years and as a result has a very hard time holding down jobs. That makes it very difficult for her to manage her finances and so he’s always just a step away from being evicted from her 500 sq ft studio apartment that she shares with her giant dog, 2 cats, and bird. The city is known to have extraordinarily high rent due to a complete shortage of housing and zoning rules that has been going on for decades now.
There’s a proposition to introduce more housing in the city by building mid-rise apartment complexes near downtown which will help lower housing costs, especially near downtown. Every business in the city is against it because they want to save the parking lots and empty storefronts.
This neighbor, who is exactly the type of person this proposition is aimed at helping along with the rest of us, is out on the street corners holding signs and telling people to vote it down. When I asked her why, she said because it’s going to lower property values…
This is your average USian voter.
Being a renter concerned about property values I’m fucking dead.
But do tell me about how material conditions outweigh idealism.
I don’t think most people are like that neighbor.
I’m not entirely sure about that. My partner just saw a nextdoor post from her just a couple hours ago and there are so many other people agreeing with “we need to save the public parking spaces and keep property values up”.
Enough people to be a non-negligible fraction of the population are like that. This can be confirmed both by election results and by taking a short walk (or visiting any business) in a suburb or rural area.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_other_minds
I remember talking to someone who worked in construction 10+ years ago that said if they raised the minimum wage that prices would go up.
“But prices are going up anyways.”
He did not have a response, is probably still against the idea.
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