XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.atheism, alt.politics.trump   
   XPost: rec.artistic.tv, or.politics   
   From: notgenx32@yahoo.com   
      
   On 9/6/2025 6:42 AM, Marmalade King wrote:   
   >   
   > Why are Red State Citizens Poorer, Less Educated, & Sicker than Blue State   
   > Citizens?   
      
   Because Trump tells them to be, and they obey.   
      
   Republicans worship cheap labor — and having a steady and   
   > reliable supply of cheap labor requires widespread poverty… Thom Hartmann   
   >   
   >   
   > One of the enduring mysteries of America is why the citizens of Red states   
   > are generally poorer, less educated, and sicker than the citizens of Blue   
   > states. To that question, I step up as your hierophant with an answer to   
   > this deep mystery that you may not have previously considered.   
   >   
   > First, that generalization is broadly true:   
   >   
   > — Blue states account for about 71 percent of America’s GDP, whereas Red   
   > states only produce 29 percent of our income and wealth. — The median   
   > family income in Blue states is $74,243. In Red states it’s $63,553.   
   > Individual states highlight the disparity: New Jersey’s median income is   
   > $89,703, while Mississippi’s is $49,111. — Counties that voted for Biden   
   > in 2020 are more diverse, being 35 percent nonwhite compared to 16 percent   
   > nonwhite populations in counties that voted for Trump. — Counties that   
   > voted for Biden in 2020 are better educated, with 36 percent of their   
   > population having some college education compared to Trump’s counties at   
   > 25 percent. — Residents of Blue states live 2.2 years longer, on average,   
   > than residents of Red states.   
   >   
   > And, second, it’s undeniably true (and documented with each hotlink below)   
   > that Republican-controlled Red states, almost across the board, have   
   > higher rates of:   
   >   
   > — Spousal abuse   
   > — Obesity   
   > — Smoking   
   > — Teen pregnancy   
   > — Sexually transmitted diseases   
   > — Abortion (at least before Dobbs; now it would be “forced births”)   
   > — Bankruptcies and poverty   
   > — Homicide and suicide   
   > — Infant mortality   
   > — Maternal mortality   
   > — Forcible rape   
   > — Robbery and aggravated assault   
   > — Dropouts from high school   
   > — Divorce   
   > — Contaminated air and water   
   > — Opiate addiction and deaths   
   > — Unskilled workers   
   > — Parasitic infections   
   > — Income and wealth inequality   
   > — Covid deaths and unvaccinated people   
   > — Federal subsidies to states (“Red State Welfare”)   
   > — People on welfare   
   > — Child poverty   
   > — Homelessness   
   > — Spousal murder   
   > — Unemployment   
   > — Deaths from auto accidents   
   > — People living on disability   
   > — Gun deaths   
   >   
   > But are all these things happening because Republicans simply hate their   
   > citizens and explicitly want high levels of poverty, ignorance, death, and   
   > disease?   
   >   
   > Turns out there’s a much simpler answer.   
   >   
   > The problem for Red states is that Republicans worship cheap labor,   
   > because it drives up profits for the fat-cats who own American businesses   
   > — and having a steady and reliable supply of cheap labor to maintain high   
   > profits requires widespread poverty, ignorance, death, and disease.   
   >   
   > That poverty, of course, brings along with it the long list of social ills   
   > above, but Republicans are more than willing to tolerate massive,   
   > desperate levels of human suffering to make sure there’s a steady supply   
   > of cheap labor. In fact, they intentionally run their states that way to   
   > produce those results.   
   >   
   > If you have any doubts about this, if that sounds like hyperbole, simply   
   > look at the policies the GOP has promoted for the past century:   
   >   
   > — Republicans hate unions, because unions raise wages and benefits for   
   > workers, shifting them from poverty into the middle class. Once thus   
   > empowered, those uppity middle-class people then start to demand   
   > “unreasonable” things like overtime pay (Project 2025 would functionally   
   > end it), healthcare, paid vacations, paid sick leave, and paid family   
   > leave.   
   >   
   > — Republicans hate Social Security and have worked to gut, privatize, or   
   > outright end it ever since FDR signed it into law in 1935. They do this   
   > because elderly workers in poverty are a great source of compliant, cheap   
   > labor. Reagan’s changes in Social Security benefits have led to millions   
   > of Boomers having to take gigs as greeters, waiters, etc., for low wages;   
   > prior to Reagan’s changes in the Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs) and   
   > his raising the retirement age to 67, you could safely retire on Social   
   > Security in most parts of America. Now, Republicans want to raise that age   
   > to 69 or 70.   
   >   
   > — Republicans hate universal or inexpensive healthcare (and real Medicare   
   > for the elderly) because having massive medical debt provides a large pool   
   > of desperate workers willing to work crappy jobs for pathetic wages to pay   
   > it off. It’s why the ten states that refuse to expand Medicaid for   
   > low-income workers are all Republican-controlled.  Medical debt is a   
   > non-issue in every other developed country in the world, but here in   
   > America 79 million people are struggling to pay off doctors’ or hospital   
   > bills (7 million of those debtors are elderly, many the victims of the   
   > Medicare Advantage scam).   
   >   
   > — Republicans hate the minimum wage because it cuts into profits. That’s   
   > why the minimum wage in Blue states can be more than twice that of Red   
   > states (Washington State is $17/hr versus Texas’ $7.25/hr). When most   
   > families are barely earning enough to get by, employers have their pick of   
   > distraught, panicked workers willing to work for subsistence wages.   
   >   
   > — Republicans hate empowered women because forced pregnancies create more   
   > potential workers and unwanted children exacerbate poverty. Thus their 50+   
   > years of opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment and their embrace of   
   > abortion bans.   
   >   
   > — Republicans promote hatred of racial, religious, and gender minorities   
   > because when Americans are at each other’s throats they’re not organizing   
   > to throw off the GOP/corporate yoke. It’s hard to remember that the   
   > billionaires have stolen fully $50 trillion from the middle class over the   
   > past 43 years of the Reagan Revolution when you’re constantly distracted   
   > with hysteria about Black Haitians, Brown Mexicans, and trans students who   
   > just want to use the damn bathroom.   
   >   
   > — Republicans hate education because it’s the main tool for people to   
   lift   
   > themselves out of poverty and thus demand higher wages and better   
   > benefits. Before the Reagan Revolution, every American who wanted to and   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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