So, the Teabaggers were at it again last weekend, rallying around half-truths and hypocrisy to make themselves feel better about their blind hatred of the President. The half-truths are well documented, so I won’t even go there. But why hypocrisy?
First, much of the protest and resistance to all things “socialist” are predominantly centered in Republican stronghold states. So? Most of these states receive far more in federal spending than they pay in federal taxes, so they can’t even argue that their tax dollars will be spent on this or that. They aren’t PAYING any federal taxes.
In 2005, the last year for which data is compiled, Alabama received $1.66 in federal spending for every $1 in taxes paid. Nearby Mississippi, where towns run to the federal government for everything from traffic lights to arenas for livestock shows, received a whopping $2.02 for every dollar paid in. Both states have been hotbeds of all things anti-Obama and where any federal program that makes the news is railed against as socialist and communist. Hypocrites.
Other “red states” aren’t much better. Alaska, where Sarah Palin regularly used state funds to campaign against Obama, received $1.84 in federal spending for every dollar its residents paid into the system. Ironically, the state also taxes oil companies to give money back to residents. Hmm…hypocrites.
Arizona received $1.19 in spending for every dollar paid, despite being the home of the champion of conservative spending, John McCain. (He doesn’t seek earmarks, but the money is getting there somehow.) The state is also planning a constitutional amendment that they think goes against any health care bill that’s on the way. Not out of concern for their state residents, but purely for politics. HYPOCRITES.
Other apparent “socialist welfare states” include:
Arkansas received $1.41 for every dollar paid.
Idaho received $1.21 for every dollar paid.
Kansas received $1.22 for every dollar paid.
Kentucky received $1.51 for every dollar paid.
Louisiana received $1.57 for every dollar paid.
Missouri received $1.32 for every dollar paid.
Montana received $1.47 for every dollar paid.
Nebraska received $1.10 for every dollar paid.
North Dakota received $1.68 for every dollar paid.
Oklahoma received $1.36 for every dollar paid.
South Carolina received $1.35 for every dollar paid.
South Dakota received $1.53 for every dollar paid.
Tennessee received $1.27 for every dollar paid.
Utah received $1.07 for every dollar paid.
Any resident of any of those states who went to the Teabagger Convention or who went to yell at one of the town hall meetings is a HYPOCRITE unless they are at home protesting local projects getting federal funding.
The one exception among the heavily anti-Obama states is Texas which received $.94 for every dollar paid in. However, the number is closing in on $1, and has risen from $.81/$1.00 back in 1981. But don’t think fiscal welfare isn’t a way of life there. The city of Arlington, Texas, has received over $10 million in stimulus funding, just years after issuing bonds and raising sales taxes to help billionaire Jerry Jones build a $1.15 billion stadium for the Dallas Cowboys. (There’s a similar story about George W. Bush and his dabblings in baseball in Texas–his only money-making venture was compliments of taxpayers.) Enrich the rich, then ask for a handout from the rest of the country. Where’s your outrage there, Teabaggers?
So what about states where federal programs tend to get more support and where resistance to Obama is lower? What about all those Socialist Yankee Blue States? Surely they have so much socialism they MUST get more federal money to do it? Besides, the most powerful “liberals” are from those states!
California, the state most known for its “liberal” and “socialist” slant only received $.78 for every dollar paid in federal taxes. Massachusetts, the land of the Kennedy family and where the state already provides subsidized health care, only received $.82 for every federal dollar paid. Illinois, home to the Obamas, received only $.75 for every dollar paid, despite ridicule about excessive earmarks sought by Obama. And New Jersey, which has the most socialized education system in the nation (and some of the highest SAT test scores), only received $.57 in Federal spending for every dollar paid into the system.
Other notable “Blue” states:
Connecticut received $.69 for every $1.00 paid.
Delaware received $.77 for every $1.00 paid.
Minnesota received $.72 for every $1.00 paid.
Nevada received $.65 for every $1.00 paid.
New Hampshire received $.71 for every $1.00 paid.
New York received $.79 for every $1.00 paid.
Oregon received $.93 for every $1.00 paid.
Rhode Island received $1.00 for every $1.00 paid.
Yes, there are exceptions for “blue states” as well: Maine received $1.41 for every dollar paid while Maryland received $1.30 for every dollar paid. Obama carried the state thanks to Baltimore, but much of western Maryland is purely anti-Obama and falls for the “communist/meddling outsider” mentality, while taking federal handouts. New Mexico received $2.03 for every dollar paid. The state was easily carried by Obama, and most federal spending is military linked. And Hawaii received $1.44 for every dollar paid, perhaps due to its geographic isolation, since you’d think they’d have enough in tourism taxes to cover state spending.
As for those purple states, most states that teeter between Blue/Red, such as Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Florida receive right at $1 for every $1 paid. They’re not really paying federal taxes either.
So from all this, it’s clear that most people who rail against federal programs and spending are typically the ones who receive most benefit from both. Hypocrisy at its finest. So, Mississippi, put your hand down and pay for your own damn street lights and public “barns.” Alaska, build your own roads and bridges that no one will use. And Teabaggers, go home and fix your own damn problems instead of telling us federal tax PAYERS how to spend the money.
Aside from the hypocrisy, there is also ignorance.
Currently, 62% of bankruptcies in the US are the result of mounting medical bills, often for people WITH insurance. Who pays for that? All of us, through higher prices on goods, higher interest as creditors try to make their money back. Our current medical “system” is already bankrupting us. “But it’ll bankrupt us!”
Currently, America spends $7,290 per capita on a system that bankrupts families and doesn’t always promote good health. And all the “communist” countries that have universal care? France spends $3,601 per capita. Switzerland spends $4,417. Canada comes in at $3,895 per capita ever year. The US pays more per capita than any industrialized nation…for a system that does not even cover about 27,000,000 of its citizens (excludes illegals that the Teabagers SWEAR will be covered). [Source: CQ Researcher , Aug. 28, 2009.]
And if that’s not bad enough, many companies have already taken jobs overseas where they don’t have to pay health care for workers. It just makes good economic sense to them to operate in places where everyone pays for everyone’s care. Why WOULD a CEO take a few million less in pay to cover workers? Our current “system” is already screwing over American workers.
Many of the Teabaggers last weekend were carrying signs depicting Obama as Hitler or holding up anti-Nazi slogans. Hmm. Did you ever TAKE a history course? The Nazis were not interested in helping ALL citizens, but only enriching a chosen few. They were not communists, and formed primarily to fight AGAINST communism. Most importantly, the Nazis used religion and nationalism, as well as paranoia and propaganda, to rile up irrational and uninformed citizens against common sense. Sorry guys, but that sounds like you and your heroes. And those “Tyranny” signs? If this were a real tyranny, you’d have all been arrested…or executed on the spot.
As for linking yourselves to “Tea Party,” you might want to brush up on your American history, as well. The Boston Tea Party was a protest against taxation with no return to the people. Britain was taxing its subjects for the sole purpose of military power to conquer and subjugate foreign lands. Gee, THAT sounds familiar, and it’s what your heroes would prefer we do with our tax money, and by “our,” I mean the Americans in the few states that actually pay IN to the system. Where were you a few years back when $87 Billion was going to George’s Folly.
Try again kiddos, you’re only proving your immense ignorance and unpatriotic tendencies. Not unpatriotic because you protest–I’m all for that and have done it myself. But parading around with slogans based on outright lies and corporate-manufactured outrage against your leaders? Well that’s unpatriotic. Sitting around waiting for a reason to not like/trust your president because of his skin-color (the Confederate flags and monkey posters were OBVIOUS) is just as un-American… and low-class, as well. And for the record, here’s your glorious leader. You must be proud.