If GOP Is So Right, Why Are Red States So Far Behind?

[Pharaoh]

I have a question for my Republican friends.

Yes, that sounds like the setup for a smackdown, but though the question is pointed, it is also in earnest. I’d seriously like to know:

If Republican fiscal policies really are the key to prosperity, if the GOP formula of low taxes and little regulation really does unleash economic growth, then why has the country fared better under Democratic presidents than Republican ones and why are red states the poorest states in the country?

You may recall that Bill Clinton touched on this at the 2012 Democratic Convention. He claimed that, of all the private sector jobs created since 1961, 24 million had come under Republican presidents and a whopping 42 million under Democrats. After Clinton said that, I waited for PolitiFact, the nonpartisan fact-checking organization, to knock down what I assumed was an obvious exaggeration.


http://www.nationalmemo.com/gop-right-red-states-far-behind/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=NM_Master_List&utm_campaign=Daily%20Newsletter%20-%20September%203%202014&utm_content=Final

[edhopper]

1. because for a lot of those voters, they are right

restricted abortion laws, open carry laws, preventing minorities from voting, keeping healthcare from the poor.
Too many voters think those are more important than their own well being.

[Enthusiast]

19. It's is an amazing phenomenon. But there it is.

[RKP5637]

2. I've often wondered this ... and what I see is republicans value as positives those

areas that cause states to fall behind economically and in other ways. It is a conundrum, why republicans value emphasizing those elements that lead to economic failure, but they do, over and over again ... and republicans seem to celebrate those states with economic difficulties as the plan they would like to see for the entire US.

... and they spend hoards of money to propagandize residents of those states that this is good. It's really really weird, why they celebrate economic failure as a positive.

[nxylas]

3. They're not real conservatives

For true believers, Tea Party policies can never fail. If they appear to have failed, it's because they haven't been done properly, cos the libruls and RINOs keep getting in the way.

[Mr Dixon]

4. IMO

Last edited Wed Sep 3, 2014, 01:44 PM - Edit history (2)

I will take a stab at it: IMO Republicans have an agenda to return to the great old England standards, pretty much as follows: if your born into royalty (wealth) then your family will always be royalty (wealthy). They are willing to kill and exploit people and resources to maintain this standard, History is a great teacher, case and point, the pilgrims came here and survived a winter thanks to the Indians and thus thanksgiving was born, but what the history books don’t tell you is that there were aristocrats among them (Rich) who’s agenda was to exploit the people and resources sound familiar? The poor have always been manipulated against their own best interest just like poor republican are exploited today, seeing a pattern yet? So in the big picture the rich republicans are doing great (Governors, judges and CEO’s) a police force this is not held accountable because they protect the interest of the rich.

[RKP5637]

5. Yep, that's pretty much it and what we see! n/t

[eppur_se_muova]

6. Kansas is the Petri dish for the Great Conservative Experiment ...

and the colony is failing. Will this finally convince Repugs they got it wrong ? So far, there seems to be little hope of that. I wouldn't hold my breath. As long as they can fantasize that it really should work, they will continue to believe argue that it does work, regardless of facts.

[Volaris]

7. Then they should sit down with a game controller and play themselves some Bioshock.

Welcome to Rapture, City Beneath the Sea.
Dumb motherfuckers....

[hifiguy]

18. Nothing will ever convince them that they are wrong

any more that the failure of the world to end on Date X dissuaded the hopeless, hapless chumps who had been expecting the Great Cosmic Kaboom on that date. They just convince themselves they miscalculated or, far more likely, didn't believe hard enough.

The problem is terminal stupidity. Not ignorance, which can be remedied, but stupidity - the inability to be educated be it willful or not, despite mountains of evidence refuting their pinheaded beliefs.

[Shadowflash]

8. They care more about denying other people rights

Than they do about their own self interest.

[n2doc]

9. Illeagles! And Takers! And those dam' Demoncrats!

It's all their fault! Rush sez so an I believe him!

[LynneSin]

10. In their mind who says that's a problem?

Centuries ago the rich lived the high life while the serfs served them. The red states are getting closer to that reality.

[Yavin4]

11. Because poor Whites believe that government assistance programs help other races more than them

They would rather live in poverty than to see a non-white person have access to healthcare or food or education or housing. They need non-Whites to be lower than them, or at least need to think that way.

[Enthusiast]

20. Non-whites are undeserving and lazy.

That is the theory. They hear it every day from Fox and Limbaugh. Paul Ryan preaches it constantly. The ignorati? They eat it up. They are predisposed to think badly of those with darker skin.

[Yavin4]

21. Non-college educated Whites are THE voting bloc that gives Republicans power

Without them, the Republican party would be considered a fringe party.

[Sunlei]

12. the state gov in mostly red states? mismanages their state revenue and federal money

No one audits our States for corruption.

I don't understand how any gulf state with a 100 years and 2,2200,000 oil drilling projects ends up with the crappiest schools and the worse roads/infrastructure in America.

Who took that 100 years of revenue from the oil corps and where did it go? At least states like Alaska cut a $1500 check to every man, woman and child in that one state, every year.

Why do the southern states (and other states) rent out their prison population to corporations, and allow these workers to be paid 50 cents an hour? Seems to me the south/USA in general wants slavery to live on forever.

OUR Gov is supposed to be for "The People" not for the corporation masters.

[Raffi Ella]

13. GA. is a perfect example of what happens under Republican Rule.

If Ga. is a test case for conservatism, it fails


Conservatives have a theory, a theory that has become the foundational myth of their movement. It holds that the best path to economic growth is to slash taxes, cut government, create a regulatory environment that favors business and ensure that the workforce isn’t “spoiled” by a safety net that becomes a hammock, as they like to say.

Do all that, and business will prosper, incomes will rise, people will have jobs and poverty will ease.

Since taking the reins of state government in January 2003, Georgia Republicans have implemented every bit of that agenda. They have slashed unemployment benefits and welfare benefits, and pay the lowest Medicaid reimbursements in the country. They have made us 49th per capita in transportation spending, and the business magazines love us for our “pro-business” environment.

And oh yeah, taxes have been slashed and slashed again. In 2003, Georgia ranked 29th in state and local tax revenue per capita, and was second behind only Virginia among the 12 southeastern states. Today it ranks 44th nationally, and eighth of 12 in the Southeast. We may have the third lowest high-school graduation rate in the nation, and we can’t afford to keep our school doors open for 180 days a year, but darn if we don’t have low taxes.

So the experiment has been run for 11 years now. And by any meaningful measure, it has been a failure.

"the closer you look at the numbers ... the uglier they get."

http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/jay-bookman/2014/jan/09/if-ga-test-case-conservatism-it-fails/

[FairWinds]

14. It's not just poverty and job creation . .

Red states do worse (than the blues) in terms of quality of life in general.
This was published by those left-wing radicals at Forbes Magazine.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2013/06/19/red-states-rank-low-on-u-s-human-development-index/

[Populist_Prole]

15. "God & Guns"

[Johonny]

16. There's always an excuse

The gays agenda, the socialists, the other people... Conservatives are good at framing the conversation to make it sound like A) they aren't in control B) their policies aren't the ones that failed C) We'd be better off if not for X D) Being the victim E) Their path is the path of morality/Christianity F) Creating Strawman liberals.

The fact that as the country has lurched right for the past 34 years the country it has fallen behind societal expectations doesn't seem to register with these people. They have their whole identity wrapped up in being right. Thus they are easy to rope in with the same tired routine over and over. Once you escape it and see Fox news and the Republican party for what it is... it seems almost comical that people watch/ vote for it. It is so transparently obvious that you really have to not want to see to not see it. Yet so many people don't see it

[Marr]

17. They'll tell you they haven't had their way.

It's very all or nothing with Conservatives. Unless they've been allowed to utterly control everything, and put you in a camp, they haven't had a shot yet.