Do most US citizens really want what's best for others?

[pampango]

4. I think liberals have more of a "we're all in this together" mindset but it is complicated.

There is a whole lot of fear of "the other" fueling what we're seeing. I am not denying or diminishing that. It has been there all along, Trump merely ripped the scab off of the wound and the pus is running out now. Which is good, because that wound can't begin to heal without air.

Well said. All of us, as animals, are programmed to prioritized self-survival. So people who are struggling are more likely to not give a lot of thought to "what is best for others". That is obvious and, I'm sure, not the essence of your question.

Once we get beyond survival mode, most people seem to always want to make more and buy more tomorrow than they do today. If I make $20,000, next year I hope to make $25,000, then $30,000. For the really rich, I assume the same priority applies. If one of them makes $1,000,000, next year they want to make $1,500,000 and so on.

The real question is how much of that next $5,000 or $500,000 are we willing to give up to "do what is best for others". On one level most of us know that there are deserving folks that are much worse off than we are. I would contend that liberals, almost by definition, are willing to give up more to benefit others than are conservatives who care less about inequality and helping "others" as you accurately point out. As a matter of fact, I think many RW populists like to expand the definition of "others" to include more and more groups of people so that they can be excluded from the "US" that conservatives like to focus on.

Don't have time to go on now but thanks for a great OP.