Posted on 11/19/2004 6:01:56 PM PST by Mr. Mulliner
Red State Generosity
November 10, 2004
Don't look now but another Civil War is brewing. The nation just re-elected George W. Bush and it's not sitting well with portions of the country, namely the now-famous blue states. There are 19 of them, total. They make up primarily the Northeast, the Rust Belt in the Mid-West and the Left Coast. They boast some of the nation's largest population centers New York, Chicago, Los Angeles. They don't think it's fair that someone from fly-over country is in charge so instead of doing the honorable thing and moving to France with Johnny Depp, they want to take their states and start a new country.
Where does all this talk come from?
It's coming from the very same people who have spewed the same old liberal rhetoric during recent elections in order to play on our innate sense of class envy. The haves' are made to feel guilty by those purportedly speaking on behalf of the have-nots.' We're taught, first, that we should feel guilty for any success we achieve and, second, that the liberal, compassionate thing to do is to give away that ill-gotten booty.
After George W. Bush won re-election (I love to keep repeating that cause it burns those disgruntled liberals up), prominent Democrats advanced the possibility of secession. Democratic activist Bob Beckel told Fox & Friends the morning after the election, I think now that slavery is taken care of, I'm for letting the South form its own nation. MSNBC political analyst Lawrence O'Donnell concurred. The segment of the country that pays for the federal government is now being governed by the people who don't pay for the federal government, O'Donnell whined. In his effort to whip up discontent among the blue states using class warfare, O'Donnell forgot something. The facts.
Indeed, the blue states pay roughly 20 percent more than the red states in federal income tax yet the blue states have an average of sixty-one percent more citizens on government welfare. The raw numbers paint an even uglier picture. Despite the fact that there are more people in the red states, the number of people on welfare in the Kerry states is almost three times the number in the Bush states.
The liberals will also have you believe they give more than conservatives to charity. Here are the facts. According to the Massachusetts-based Catalogue of Philanthropy's Generosity Index, millionaire-concentrated California is not the most charitable state. The most giving state in the union is are you ready for this? Mississippi. That's right, a red state. Their Having Rank, according to the index, is 50th out of the 50 states. Their Giving Rank, despite their relatively meager means, is 5th . That translates into a generosity index of first place. California, by contrast, is 6th in Having Rank and a dismal 17th in Giving Rank leaving them in 29th place. New York, by the way, is in 26th place.
Here's another interesting tidbit. Of the top 10 most giving states, every single one is a red state. Of the top 25 giving states, every one is a red state. All of the blue states rank 26 or below in generosity. So much for compassionate, giving liberals, eh? The bottom line is this; liberals are for higher taxes but when it comes to helping the less fortunate, without the threat of jail time, conservatives are the ones who step up to the plate.
As for secession? I say let em go. With so many people riding the wagon compared to those pulling, it won't be long before they tire of it. Then maybe they'll see red, too.
Catalogue for Philanthropy
Generosity Index 2004
StateHaving
Rank
Giving
Rank
Rank
Relation
Generosity
Index
Mississippi 50 5 45 1 Arkansas 47 6 41 2 Oklahoma 43 8 35 3 Louisiana 42 10 32 4 Alabama 38 7 31 5 Tennessee 34 3 31 6 South Dakota 44 14 30 7 Utah 31 2 29 8 South Carolina 40 12 28 9 Idaho 41 20 21 10 Wyoming 21 1 20 11 Texas 23 4 19 12 West Virginia 48 31 17 13 Nebraska 35 19 16 14 North Dakota 46 30 16 15 North Carolina 27 15 12 16 Kansas 25 18 7 17 Florida 20 13 7 18 Georgia 17 11 6 19 Kentucky 39 33 6 20 Montana 49 43 6 21 Missouri 29 24 5 22 New Mexico 45 40 5 23 Alaska 24 21 3 24 Indiana 28 29 -1 25 New York 5 9 -4 26 Iowa 36 44 -8 27 Ohio 32 42 -10 28 California 6 17 -11 29 Maryland 4 16 -12 30 Illinois 10 22 -12 31 Maine 37 50 -13 32 Delaware 13 27 -14 33 Washington 11 25 -14 34 Vermont 33 47 -14 35 Oregon 26 41 -15 36 Hawaii 30 45 -15 37 Virginia 7 23 -16 38 Arizona 22 38 -16 39 Nevada 14 32 -18 40 Pennsylvania 18 36 -18 41 Michigan 16 35 -19 42 Colorado 8 28 -20 43 Connecticut 1 26 -25 44 Minnesota 12 37 -25 45 Wisconsin 19 46 -27 46 New Jersey 2 34 -32 47 Rhode Island 15 49 -34 48 Massachusetts 3 39 -36 49 New Hampshire 9 48 -39 50
Liberals ARE more generous... with OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY...
Conservatives are more generous with their own money....
THANK YOU!!!!
I've been waiting for an article like this. Of course liberals will try to debunk it or change the subject when they are confronted with this.
Which they spend--not out of compassion--but to get THEIR candidates elected.
I was waiting for this.
No wonder every time I flip over to NPR or PBS they are doing a fund raiser. If it isn't paid for by the federal government, getting the liberals who listen to it to pay for it is like trying to get blood from an orange.
Great analogy. And therein lies the difference! :-)
Bookmarked..Good info!
But haven't they been saying for a gazillion years that it's the middle class who is paying the most? Now that the middle class (flyover Walmart Nation country) elected Bush, they're suddenly NOT paying......oh, I'm so confused by Loony Liberal Logic!
Note that Massachusetts is ranked 49th.
This is some amazing stuff.
ping
I noticed that too. In fact, the Northeast is the least generous region of the country, the area where liberalism is probably strongest.
Note that he's saying that the red states gave more *as a proportion of income*, not more in absolute numbers. Of course, even the red states are almost half blue, and the blue states are almost half red, so I'm holding out for a better study. Not that it's not a good point. We've known for ages that the wealthy give smaller proportions of their incomes.
Even in terms of pure "Giving Rank", the highest blue state is #9.
Yankees!
Me too -- bookmarked for future reference
Thanks so much for this post! And I'll bet that this is only the "official" numbers (maybe from large organizations like UW or from tax returns), and probably doesn't account for church giving, the anonymous money you slip into a basket at a fundraiser for the kid who has cancer, helping with the choir trip, school uniforms, food donations for the homeless shelter, clothing donations to the abused women's shelter, or even the giving of your time and talents to those in need. I think if those were taken into consideration, the difference between the givers and takers would be even greater. JMO.
Liberals believe that "their efforts to UP the minimum wage" are justification for their habit of under-tipping, or stiffing Pizza Drivers.
Liberal Bastions {like Charties, community theatres, and "Party Phone Banks"}like to demand a discount on large orders. They want 10% to 20% off, then they want to be tax exempt.
Then, they tip the pizza guy $3.00 {MAX} for an order that takes 3 trips to carry in, and costs over $100!
I make nightly deliverys to the local Salvation Army HQ. Their "clients" let me keep the coins {that's fair}. Their hired Rent-a-cops tip pretty well. The Staff & management...they are deadbeats, they want EVERY penny. Then, they are offended when I ask for the Coupon that they told the order-taker would be used.
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