r/askanything • u/SignificantCrow • 13h ago

Political Question Are Republicans inherently selfish?

Not referring to every individual obviously but as a whole, compared to democrats/independents they seem to really only care about themselves or their immediate family and pretty much have a “f**k em” attitude towards literally everyone else. Does anyone else feel this way?

This would explain why so many are against social policies but have no issue dumping much more money into the military instead, for example.

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u/AnymooseProphet 13h ago

Capitalism is inherently selfish. That's why the love of money is described as being at the root of all sorts of evil, not just at the root of conservative evil.

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u/Ok_Currency_617 13h ago

I mean, we have many examples of communists and socialists being selfish. Saying that any one system is bad is ridiculous.

People like to label what they support as "good" and what others support as "bad" and then assign negative moral values.

I do find it funny that Republicans get compared to Epstein when Epstein was a registered Democrat. The Trump family were also strong Democrats before Trump joined the presidential ticket. More billionaires also vote Dem.

I do want to note, this isn't an endorsement of the Rep party. My point is only that people tend to say everything good or bad these days without considering that both sides of any issue tend to be extremely close together with only a small difference in benefit between them. If you are deciding quickly on one side, then you are mistaken.

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u/GeneralQuinthope 13h ago

It is, but what you send your time (which is money) or money on is different. And companies can skew to betterment instead of greed. It's a choice you make early on in the company's values and how you choose who gets the stock power later on

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u/ElectricalPublic1304 12h ago

Capitalism is an abstract idea. It cannot be selfish.

Capitalism observes that people act in their self-interest. And that government officials do that too--and they mix their political power with economic issue. Using the former to control the latter, usually to direct benefits to themselves, at the expense of the people. And Capitalism says they ought not do that.

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u/No-Carrot4267 11h ago

We should go back to slavery. It's the most profitable business model under capitalism

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u/Ch1Guy 13h ago

Humans are inherently selfish.... which is part of the reason so many systems fail even with good intentions 

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u/Sea_Low879 13h ago

There is nothing selfish about capitalism if we are talking about a free-ish market where anyone is allowed to build a business and profit from it. There is nothing selfish about it.

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u/sofahkingsick 12h ago

Its inherently selfish because it relies on the exploitation of the workers. You need your pay them less than what their labor is worth in order to make enough capital to sustain the model. If you charge enough to make it sustainable then you will be undercut by those that exploit their workers. US and China do this as a business relation. We outsource work to countries that will pay pennies so that shareholders reap the benefits. Thats why so many commodities get made over seas.

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u/Ch1Guy 12h ago

This implies flawed logic that there is no such thing as a win/win transaction where both parties come out ahead.

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u/sofahkingsick 12h ago

In real world business logic doesnt always apply. Otherwise we wouldnt have capitalism and we would have a system that works for everyone. I work in construction and half the time the reason our contracts get picked up is because they like our company not because we are the cheapest or quickest. They like the people and thats it. Lots and lots of business is done on a golf course or a dinner table vs a board meeting.

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u/Sea_Low879 12h ago

It relies on paying a wage to people who voluntarily want to work. You call that exploitation. I call that being employed.

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u/sofahkingsick 12h ago edited 12h ago

If your only option is less than a liveable wage or unemployment its exploitation. Are you able to apply for a 6 figure income in the mid 300’s? Most people cant. Also can you afford to not work?

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u/OhNoItsBruceyBoy 13h ago

Yea, the best thing about socialism is that no one is selfish.

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u/cursedfan 12h ago

So ur saying even amongst inherently selfish people, republicans are truly the worst. Got it.

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u/AnymooseProphet 12h ago

I'm not sure that's actually true. During the current decade it seems to be, but there's a lot of very selfish wealthy Democrats too, and the rich Democratic establishment caters to them.

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u/cursedfan 12h ago

Sure but a selfish democrat still wants you to have access to modern medicine. Thats the difference.

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u/AnymooseProphet 7h ago

I'm not sure that's true.

Remember when Kamala Harris was running the 2020 primaries? One day she was M4A and then the DNC told her to change her position and she did.

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u/cursedfan 7h ago

Holy shit if u think these are the same thing then I fucking give up