So, poorer Brexiters voted to be worse off? There’s nothing wrong in that

So, poorer Brexiters voted to be worse off? There’s nothing wrong in that | Gary Younge

Working-class leavers were not motivated by self-interest, but by values. Well-off liberals who back tax rises should understand that

In Uncle Tom’s Cabin, there is a moment when Augustine St Clare, who owns Tom, suggests that he is better off as a slave than he would be as a free man. “No,” insists Tom. “Why Tom?” asks St Clare. “You couldn’t possibly have earned, by your work, such clothes and such living as I have given you.” “Know’s all that Mas’r,” says Tom. “But I’d rather have poor clothes, poor house, poor everything and have ’em mine, than have the best, and have ’em any man else’s.”

It has long been a challenge, particularly for those who are comfortable, to understand why anybody who is struggling would choose to be worse off. Liberals can take it particularly personally when those who would most benefit materially from a change in policy or circumstance opt to reject it. The assumption is that they must be misinformed, ill-informed, uninformed, stupid, naive or cruelly misled.

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from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2DO5au4

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