The Political Economy of Co-dependence and Guilt

Noting that 8 of the 10 richest counties in the US voted for Obama, Gary North wrote,

There is a deal between the poorest inner cities and the rich, who have no contact with people who live in the inner cities. The rich vote to assuage their guilt, and the poor take the trickle-down welfare from Washington. It’s the politics of co-dependence.

His explanation, which may have a grain of truth judging from my own experiences both as a student and as a prof, is

The reality is this: rich parents buy expensive college educations for their children. Colleges are run by political liberals. The outlook of the professors is adopted by students.

My own take is that many (most?) well-to-do people actually do care about the poor. Sometimes they disagree vehemently about which poor they care about (and too often ignore future generations) or how to go about caring for them.