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Voting against one's interests: The hatred of big government

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Abstract

The United States today is not a secure or happy place in which to be dependent. Hatred of the government upon which they depend is a significant way in which people can deny the dependency they are faced with in daily life. From their different perspectives, both D. W. Winnicott and Melanie Klein understood how terrifying unmet, or insecurely met, dependency needs could be. Klein, in particular, showed how this terror could lead to a split-off paranoid hatred of those on whom one is dependent.

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Fred Alford, C. Voting against one's interests: The hatred of big government. Psychoanal Cult Soc 19, 203–208 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1057/pcs.2014.6

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