> Many of those who would receive help are most concerned in making sure there's still someone else in a worse situation than themselves.
This sums up the majority of rural republicans in my area. It's a sad realization that people so often put not being at the bottom above their own best interests.
It's not essentially rural, it's ingrained into the American psyche (along with the belief that what's good for the rich is good for me, because I'm gonna be rich!).
19% in the linked article already think they're in the top 1%. That's not "ambition", that's just ignorance.
The article also had an interesting point as to why so many think they're in the top tiers: they're not surrounded by things they can't afford. Contrast my home state of Indiana, where I would have been hard pressed to tell you where to buy a Ferrari in the entire state, with the Seattle, WA area where I can list two Ferrari dealers within 30 minutes of my house. If the prancing horse isn't your style, there's a Lambo dealer in Bellevue. (Next door to the Rolls/Bentley dealer, IIRC.) I see multiple Teslas on the way to work, and I no longer think anything of seeing a Ferrari or Lambo on the way to work once or twice a week. I've regularly bicycled through Medina, WA (where BillG lives). I know what ridiculous wealth looks like, and I know that I'm not currently that wealthy and realize it's extremely unlikely that I ever will be. But if I lived in Zionsville, IN (which has, last I checked, the only Rolls-Royce dealer in the entire state) where a half million buys 5400 square feet and an acre in a super ritzy neighborhood, I might think I've "made it" and am amongst those in the top tier.
Anyway, I digress. There's ambition, then there's delusion.
I don't disagree that its a feeling not limited to rural republicans but they are the ones I see voting in direct conflicts with their best interest. I don't buy that its because they're voting for their "future rich self" but rather that they're voting to keep other people beneath them.
This sums up the majority of rural republicans in my area. It's a sad realization that people so often put not being at the bottom above their own best interests.