Ex White House Spokesman Bob Weiner & Policy Analyst Jaime Ravenet: "Conservatives Vote Against Their Own Interests" For "Inaccurate Self Interest"

IN MICHIGAN CHRONICLE, Weiner and Ravenet Document "Voting to Make Top 1% Rich But No One Else Gets There"

WASHINGTON and DETROIT, Jan. 26, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Robert Weiner, a former Clinton White House spokesman, and Jaime Ravenet, Senior Analyst at Robert Weiner Associates, respond to Michigan Congressman/Congressional Black Caucus Dean John Conyers' "compelling question to us in a conversation, 'Why do conservatives vote against their own interests?'" "If we can answer this," Weiner and Ravenet say, "we might reach the common ground to solve the country's economic, debt, and growing income disparity issues."

Weiner and Ravenet penned an article featured in the Michigan Chronicle hard copy February 1, online today, titled, "'Why Do Conservatives Vote Against Their Own Interests?" Citing recent reports from the Commerce Department and OMB, Weiner and Ravenet demonstrate the large economic success divergence between "Democratic presidents since 1930, who pursued agendas emphasizing people programs while pressing tax breaks for middle and lower incomes and resisting tax breaks for the wealthy," under whom "the average GDP increased by 5.4%," and the "1.6% average GDP increase during the presidencies of their Republican counterparts."

So why do voters vote against themselves on this question? Weiner and Ravenet argue that voters are presented the "illusion that they will become rich quicker or make a company do more business by the policy of tax breaks for the wealthy. The accurate legacy of the rich tax-cutting agenda is smaller paychecks for the average American.  The numbers are irrefutable."

They cite recent economic reports "from home and abroad [that] detail a disturbing trend: it is now harder to transcend class in the U.S. than in our Western European counterparts like England, Denmark, and Sweden. We no longer lead in our own American dream of upward mobility." The result is "the very-very rich get richer and everybody else – including the overwhelming majority of conservatives – get poorer, yet conservative politicians somehow gain from that."

Weiner and Ravenet conclude that "conservatives must be voting to make the top 1% rich because under their policies, no one else ever gets there."

Robert Weiner is a former spokesman for the Clinton White House and U.S. House Government Operations Committee under Chairman John Conyers, political assistant for Senator Ted Kennedy, and Chief of Staff of the House Committee on Aging under Cong. Claude Pepper. Weiner recently keynoted a national conference on faith and governance at Wayne State University Law School inspired by Bankole Thompson's new book, "Obama and Christian Loyalty." Jaime Ravenet, a graduate of University of Maryland in philosophy, is Senior Economic Policy Analyst at Robert Weiner Associates.

Link to article as published: http://www.michronicleonline.com/index.php/top-news/5424-why-do-conservatives-vote-against-their-own-interests

Contact: Bob Weiner/Richard Mann 301-283-0821 202-306-1200

SOURCE Robert Weiner Associates