Republicans are constantly insulting the blue states. Bush even referred to John Kerry as “just another northeast liberal.” It is no wonder that police and emergency funding was cut in blue states under Bush. It’s back to the selfish 6th grade mentality: “Why should I help them; they didn’t help me?” We could just see him right now snickering to his cronies in Crawford, “Ha, they don’t want to vote for me, they’ll see what they get.” However, did they forget that there are many liberals in red states as well, states like Arizona and even Texas? Unfortunately, there are not enough liberals where we need progress the most— red states. But before we let the BAD get away with insulting the blue states let’s remind the nation about a few important historic details.[i] Who founded this nation? New York? Philadelphia? Boston? Which states get the most federal funding and pay in the least? (Nine of the top ten are red.) Which states get the least federal funding and pay the most? (Eight of the top ten are blue.)
Of course they’ll bring up other issues like morals and values. Well, what state has the lowest divorce rate? (Massachusetts, the home of “just another northeast liberal.”) In fact, 9 out of the 10 states with the lowest divorce rate are blue. Where are the top ten states with the worst divorce rates? You betcha! (10 out of the 10 worst are red states.) (43)
How about criminals? Who has 500 or more prisoners per 100,000 population (the highest prison population in the U.S.)? Yes, you guessed it: TX, LA, MS, AL, GA, & SC. Murder and other violent crime rates are also higher in the red states. Obviously there’s no crime prevention or initiative of education in those states, and if there is it hasn’t been working.
Speaking of education; red states are also lagging in this department too. Texas is actually inching its way up to the #50 spot (last place) for worst education ranking. (43)
What about health? Who has healthier citizens with less rates of disease? According to the Congressional Quarterly Press and State Fact Finder, 8 of the top 10 healthiest states are blue states. This could have something to do with the fact that 9 of the 14 best environmentally ranked states are also blue states, according to the North Carolina Institute for Southern Studies. And according to past and recent United States EPA reports, red states like TX, LA, and UT release the most toxins in the nation (100 million or more pounds of toxins.) Red states like MS, AL, GA, and SC are in 2nd place for releasing 50 to 99 million pounds of toxins into the air. It’s no wonder that they also have extremely high cancer rates. So much for church. So much for gays threatening the sanctity of marriage. Perhaps it’s something else, like maybe the polluted drinking-water? Or better yet, maybe it’s time we finally hold accountable the Republican government managing these red states. They’re the ones threatening the sanctity of marriage.
Wyoming, Idaho, and Nebraska all come in at the top for states with highest Republican population. However, Utah is at the very top of the list, yes, the same state where polygamy is widely practiced, the same state that’s dictated by a radical religion where women are degraded to servants and child-bearers, the same state that denied the dangerous effects of above-the-ground nuclear testing in the 50’s and 60’s where thousands died of cancer. Utah is a scary place. Granted, there are many free-thinking Democrats who live in Utah, whom I have sympathy for, but Democratic presidential candidates shouldn’t even waste their time there, unless it’s at the Sundance Film Festival. In fact, don’t sell this book there unless it’s to someone looking to get out, in which case I’ll now provide directions to the nearest blue state: Go west until you can’t go west anymore. From Oregon you can go up or down; it’s your liberal choice.
The list of contrasts and criticism goes on, but I only wanted to demonstrate that we can play “divider” too. Democrats don’t ever bring up these facts when they debate because Democrats stand for all people. Only Republicans like Bush could use divisive language because they don’t care about anyone other than themselves and their cronies. I honestly hope citizens of Utah do read Broken Nation.
