Some people want to talk about the rich, but it is also important to talk about the rest of the people voting for it.

There is a deep cultural mindset in a lot of conservative parts of the country where you’re only really supposed to take care of your own people. In countries with established ethnic groups, it is easy for the state to assume that the default person is within the dominant ethnic group’s kith, or very extended family. That assumption isn’t the case in the USA.

So, there may be an expectation that you support your kith or extended family, but it doesn’t map to a state because there are several ethnic groups, especially when you take into account that the acceptance of white as one group only came about recently. Therefore, the competing kiths don’t want an equalizimg economic playing field that a welfare state can provide. So, those systems don’t get built.

Also, somewhat tied into it, there is a lot of shame if a person has to go out of their kith for aid, like welfare or Medicaid. So, people will act as if they are not on those programs because of the shame. Worse, government agencies will make sure that using government welfare is known. For instance, a lot of school districts will have different ways of processing students on subsidized lunch programs over those that pay full price and parents won’t sign up for the subsidized system because of the shame.