Like economists, socialists view voters as purely rational economic actors who should vote their financial self-interest. They are consequently endlessly frustrated by workers who are motivated primarily by issues of values or identity. They refer to this mentality as “false consciousness.”
There are two enormous issues with this concept. First, people are not, in fact, primarily motivated by their economic self-interest. If you don’t believe that, think about all of the millions of decisions you make each day, and ask yourself, how many of them are made based on financial considerations? A miserable few. Second, American socialists have not shown any viable approach to winning over this kind of voter. When they are confronted with this problem, they simply double down, or mock the person they are supposedly trying to persuade.
If you’re on the right, however, don’t take any comfort in this; Bernie Sanders may not understand values and identity voters, but AOC does, and she’s warming up in the bullpen.