A good comment on the article
“As a foreigner, I typically refrained from commenting on US domestic politics during my time in the country. When Americans asked me if Singapore was authoritarian or why it had banned chewing gum (the usual tropes), I would just smile politely and give a diplomatic answer.
One thing I never understood was the inability - or immaturity - of some to realise that there are other things that are important that are not freedom. Lee Kuan Yew once said if you asked a person in a developing country what they wanted it would be low crime and safety, running water and electricity and food for their family to eat.
But there is a very American tendency to overindex on freedom. Today, there are indicators on which the US ranks on par with certain developing countries (infant mortality and life expectancy are worse than in Cuba which endured sanctions for decades). But at least there’s freedom I suppose.
Also, freedom can encompass far more than freedom of speech and assembly: what about the freedom to return home safely? To send kids to school knowing they’ll be safe? Democratic freedoms are a worthy ideal but we need to stop pretending democracy is everything and devoid of any flaws. It can be hijacked easily by self-interested groups which resist positive change. Some institutional frameworks are also needed to ensure societal order and progress. As Singapore’s former Deputy Prime Minister said: outcomes are ensured through policies and mechanisms not speeches.”
That guy gets it, what about the freedom to not be robbed?
Those problems our with the East Coast, as well.
NYC, Baltimore, etc. All are S-holes.
1. Most leftists in the west coast are parasites from the east and midwest.
2. The idea that cities like Dallas and Houston and New York and Miami are conservative paradises is laughable.
Self driving cars could go a long way towards fixing it provided they can be perfected. People would get rid of their own and the uber driver will not need to get paid anymore. Insurance-not needed. Fewer cars parked on the street to get broken into. They’d have to be gas powered. No highway patrol needed. I’d be awesome.
NYC is the wurst....
It’s not just Gruesome’s lair.
Pure BS. Graduating card-carrying communists from high school and college is not "education." It's a breeze to get a degree in worthless "studies" that lead nowhere in real life.
I'd wager you find a higher fraction of kids graduating in Red states with solid degrees in demand by employers or trade-school graduates who are in high demand and make excellent wages.
Your purple-haired, nose-ringed, tatted-up graduate in gender studies screaming "From the river to the sea" at a Blue state university MIGHT be able to flip burgers after graduating. But those jobs are disappearing because the Blue states have mandated burger flippers get $20/hour.
Not if you include the aborted.
So define *higher standard of living*.
Because the condition of SF and LA don't look like higher standards of living to me.
That would be a HUGE step down for rural flyover country folks like me.
Besides, I don't believe their life expectancy is higher. Living in city is neither safe nor stress free both of which work massively against longevity.
I’m too lazy and do not care enough but highly doubt the life expectancy in blue states is 2yrs longer comparing apples to apples.
Generally speaking in the modern era, inner city pollution offsets proximity to state of the art of medical care in life expectancy, resulting in a wash.
I suspect that is a completely fraudulent statistic.
fwiw I’ve asked leftists for decades about why folks are fleeing instead of stampeding to the wonderfulness of big govt liberal socialism to no avail.
The answers were always anything but economic. The moving companies have since surveyed folks and the top two answers were jobs, economic opportunities. I think Krugman still goes with AC and retirees.
What a putz.
Always be careful of infant mortality statistics. The US follows the one breath rule. If the baby takes one breath and then dies it counts as an infant death. In some countries that would count the same as a miscarriage. I've heard that some even go as long as a month If you don't count deaths in the first month, infant mortality and life expectancy will be higher.
Sorry, I don't have the sites to back that up. I think I saw it back during the Obamacare debate where leftists were pointing out how much better socialized medicine was and the counter arguments came out warning about leftist statistics.
“something has gone badly wrong where we’re in charge, from San Diego to Seattle”
Why has your team been winning so many basketball games lately?
Uh...the ball goes through the hoop more.
This moron is so deluded it’s difficult to know where to begin. I write him off as a completely lost cause, fit only to scribble for the NYT.
He should put on a yarmulke and go for a stroll around Columbia University. Yeah right, it just the west coast where liberalism is a problem. /s
JP Morgan is based in New York. It was built by JP Morgan, who wouldn't resemble anything like a modern day leftist. Modern day leftists would hate JP Morgan, although they have no problem taking credit for the GDP his bank generates when they can use it to claim their ideas are superior.
It’s more like “ what have we liberal Democrats done to the entire country “
Kristol neglected to mention that one because like all the bi costal “Elites” he could care less what happens in fly over country
The geography is a little off. Metro areas across the country all suffer from the same problems, including flyover country and Texas. All are the result of the same far-left governance. SF, LA and Seattle are just worse because they effectively have no check on the socialists.
...Democratic states enjoy a life expectancy two years longer than Republican states.
Look at the demographics. A lot of the Blue states are overwhelmingly White. Whites tend to have less obesity and heart disease, diabetes, etc than Blacks and thus a longer life span.
Per capita G.D.P. in Democratic states is 29 percent higher than in G.O.P. states, and child poverty is lower.
Again, Demographics. Also, have you accounted for the cost of living differential? California and New York and Massachusetts, etc are expensive as hell. You'd have to earn literally almost twice as much in NYC to have the exact same standard of living as someone in most of the South/Midwest/Non Left Coast West.
Education is generally better in blue states, with more kids graduating from high school and college.
The Northeast has relatively few hispanics. Then same goes for Oregon and Washington. They tend to start working and not finish high school nearly as often. That is particularly true for new immigrants...so again, demographics.
Let's compare like for like. How do White people do in Blue states vs in Red States controlled for the cost of living differential? Gee.....doesn't appear to be a big gap like you're talking about. Hint, you're trying to claim demographic differences are due to POLICY. Nope!
something has gone badly wrong where we’re in charge, from San Diego to Seattle.
From Philly to Boston along with leftist cancer centers...er...cities like Chicago and Atlanta.
“Education is generally better in blue states, with more kids graduating from high school and college.”
Graduating from college is not necessarily a badge of honor (and I have two college degrees - B.S. in Electrical Engineering and A.A.S. in Chemical Technology). Why? Because liberals choose the idiotic degrees instead of law, medicine, engineering, and so forth. Then they cry because they cannot find a job with their idiotic degree, and they want you and me to pay for their idiotic school loans.