What's good for me...

Here is a problem that cuts both ways: folks in the U.S. don't understand that their specific situation isn't the same as everyone else's.

This is part of a much larger problem with our overall psyche, but this particular part of it has helped the Republican Party stay legitimate. If people really understand how policy, etc., affected them, the GOP would be relegated to a 30 percent stake in this country, mostly made up of the top one percent of earners and libertarians (who would be wise to start their own party in that case).

I've long known that conservatives like to exploit the middle class dream of becoming rich -- many among the middle class sympathize with those much wealthier than them when it comes to raising taxes, because the American Dream is just around the corner, and you, too, will be making $250,000 any day now.

But this story made me realize that it cuts the other way, too. I always thought the rich had all gotten the memo about using the middle class' hopes and dreams to further their own goals, but it appears that for at least some of them, they also don't fathom that what is good for them isn't particularly good for all.

A quote, excerpted from TPM:

A New York City donor a few cars back, who also would not give her name, said Romney needed to do a better job connecting. “I don’t think the common person is getting it,” she said from the passenger seat of a Range Rover stamped with East Hampton beach permits. “Nobody understands why Obama is hurting them. 

“We’ve got the message,” she added. “But my college kid, the baby sitters, the nails ladies — everybody who’s got the right to vote — they don’t understand what’s going on. I just think if you’re lower income — one, you’re not as educated, two, they don’t understand how it works, they don’t understand how the systems work, they don’t understand the impact.”

Maybe, in some cases, they do understand the impact. And in that, maybe there is some hope, yet.