WAPO: Living in red America can be life-threatening

[DBoon]

Steven H. Woolf, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, writes in the Journal of American Medicine: “Disparities in health across the 50 states are growing, a trend that began in the 1990s. For example, in 1990, life expectancy in New York was lower than in Oklahoma, but the trajectories separated sharply in the 1990s and, by 2016, New York ranked third in life expectancy, whereas Oklahoma ranked 45th.” Moreover, “the widening gap cannot be explained by changes in the racial and ethnic composition of states, because the same trend occurred within racial and ethnic groups.”

Instead, Woolf says the politics of red states is killing their residents. “Conservative governors increasingly use preemption, the authority to override local governments, to block liberal health policies (e.g., indoor smoking bans),” he notes. “States have preempted local regulations on nutrition (e.g., menu labeling, food deserts) and, as of 2013, 45 states had enacted statutes to limit local firearm regulations.”

...

Eight of the 10 states with the highest covid death rates adjusted for age have Republican governors: Mississippi, Oklahoma, Alabama, Texas, Tennessee, Arizona, Arkansas and Indiana. (Nevada and Kentucky are the exceptions, coming in 6th and 10th, respectively.) Similarly, nine of the 10 states with the worst vaccination rates — Wyoming, Mississippi, Louisiana, Idaho, Indiana, Tennessee, Alabama, Ohio, West Virginia and North Dakota — have GOP governors. Of these, only Louisiana is led by a Democrat, and all of them voted for defeated former president Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020.

The same divergence between red and blue states exists with respect to murder rates, as well. The center-left think tank Third Way reports: “In 2020, per capita murder rates were 40% higher in states won by Donald Trump than those won by Joe Biden.” Even more dramatically, “8 of the 10 states with the highest murder rates in 2020 voted for the Republican presidential nominee in every election this century.”

OpEd by Jennifer Rubin
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/03/17/living-in-red-states-can-be-life-threatening/

[lagomorph777]

1. Hopefully this makes an electoral dent.

[Probatim]

13. It might if they continue to die at these rates; however....

news like this won't sway a die-hard, kool-aid drinker from voting against his best interests.

[lagomorph777]

19. No, but when the die-hards die-off...

they can't vote.

[Probatim]

28. That's what I meant with the first part of my comment.

[OMGWTF]

14. Neil DeGrasse Tyson said the Rs are dying at five times the rate of Ds and that it could be enough

to swing some elections.

[former9thward]

20. He deleted that tweet.

It could not be backed up. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/neil-degrasse-tyson-vax-tweet/

[raising2moredems]

27. trouble is a state gets two senators despite population

In states where the vote count (of those deemed "worthy" enough to vote I should add) is 2/3 ridiots and 1/3 dems, mortality is going to have to be high. And hope the birth rate dramatically drops among the ridiots.

[fightforfreedom]

2. No shit, That's obvious, however Trump voters do not know this because they do not think.

Trump voters shut down their entire frontal lobe when making decisions. That is a fact.

[TrogL]

9. They "think" with their feelings, mostly fear

[Random Boomer]

16. Rational thought is block by fear

Heightened fear short-circuits the higher functions of the brain. All it takes to render people stupid and self-destructive is to pump up their adrenaline with GOP Fear Factor.

[halfulglas]

22. If it's not in a short tweet or on Fox "News"

They will never hear it (or in won't sink in). So don't count on it changing any minds. It might help Indies.

[FM123]

3. Yes. And in so many different ways, not just covid.

Even if you live in the bluest of blue counties - if it is a red state with a psycho repub governor like Ron DeSatan , life is dangerous. Especially for our LGBTQ kids.

[Johnny2X2X]

4. Dems have done a horrible job of pointing this out

Dems are too polite, they don't want to mention what "shitholes" so many red states are because they don't want to offend voters there. In the meantime, the Right is all in on California being a shithole that it isn't.

[uponit7771]

18. Look at the noise after Putrids economy got stuck I don't know. The data shows dems WERE doing ...

... a typical message flood just getting out flooded by volume of winger bots.

Its not even close, SM is the cess pool this crap starts and they spread quick fast

It's MOSTLY anecdotal right now but NO DOUBT congress needs to step in FB, Tw, TicTok etc if the data pans out.

[Scrivener7]

30. I keep going back to the fact that something like 80% of the misinformation about

Covid that circulated among US twitter accounts came from 78 accounts. I can't link it, but I know I read it here and it sticks with me.

One old fashioned boiler-room style setup of tweeters to counteract what you are describing for Twitter, and no doubt a similar situation exists in the other outlets.

Surely we could do it.

[robbob]

5. So Faux News will of course stop demonizing blue states cities

As “murder capitals” of the USA? Or will they just quietly retire that talking point?

[CrispyQ]

7. I doubt they'll retire it since facts don't matter with the cult.

https://democraticunderground.com/100216489614

[oldsoftie]

26. Notice how those two charts don't nearly match up?

That because the lower chart likely is showing mostly small numbers.
Per capita/100k is the REAL comparator.

Now look up the chart that shows who is killing who in those states.

[ancianita]

29. Right. I showed charts like this on SM for years because it always "Chicago! Chicago! Chicago!"

Now the bots and trolls are silent.

[JustAnotherGen]

6. I feel bad for Democratics in those states

The rest of them?

Self Inflicted wound - why should I care?

Why are they more important to the media?

[NameAlreadyTaken]

8. Death cult

[bucolic_frolic]

10. Over the long haul this will sift out

as smart states and dumb states. Capital flight and culture and intelligence will be on the move. If they can afford it.

[former9thward]

21. The census does not back that up.

Both population and capital are moving from the NE and upper Midwest to the W and South. Those are the states that gained the most percent of population.

[treestar]

24. That actually could be a good thing

If those states have more people, they might turn purple or blue, or at least, they will not have as disproportionate effect in the Senate.

[IronLionZion]

11. Some of those states might become a little bluer next election

with fewer conservative voters

[misanthrope]

12. The politics are a symptom

The heart of the variability in our "different Americas" is cultural. The politics, healthcare, et cetera are all an outgrowth of the culture.

[Crunchy Frog]

15. They're not just killing red voters, they're killing people in blue cities

by preventing local self rule and enactment of life saving local policies.

[SheltieLover]

17. Like hell on earth.

[Initech]

23. To paraphrase a quote from Marge Simpson:

"You know the GOP morphed into a hardcore death cult so gradually that nobody really noticed."

[Martin Eden]

25. Republicans are not "Pro-Life"

They are more of a death cult.

Pro guns
Anti health care
Pro pollution
Anti environment
Pro reckless endangerment
Anti vaccine & mask
Pro fetus
Anti caring for children outside the womb

[BlueWavePsych]

31. Kick

[OldBaldy1701E]

32. Oooo... I can tell the difference...

The column on the right does not glow in the dark. Other than that... there is no difference. And the irony is that each column is convinced that the other one is 'the enemy'. If it were not so deadly to the rest of the world, it would be hysterical to watch...