To Lead a Long, Healthy, Wealthy Life Don't Live in a Red State -A Statistical Survey of GOP Failure

[appalachiablue]

Last edited Fri Mar 18, 2022, 08:31 PM - Edit history (1)

- Daily Kos, March 18, 2022. Ed. ~ “No arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” ― Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan ~

Conservatives promote the delusion that they alone know what is good for the average American. That if you follow their guidance and enact their policies, Americans will enjoy peace and prosperity, free from worry about crime and disease. Salaries will soar and everyone will retire with an assured financial future. And the citizen will suffer such an excess of winning they will tire of victory. It is make-believe. It has no basis in truth. And it flies in the face of statistics that are a click away. Simply stated, if your goal is to gain weight, get shot, live in poverty, catch an STI, get sick, and die young, you should live in a red state. Let’s have a look at the numbers.

- LIFE EXPECTANCY BY STATE: This is the big one. Whatever you may attain counts for little if you are not alive to savor it. And if you are here but are sick, it’s tough to enjoy it. By this measure, it is safe to say that conservative philosophy will put you in jeopardy before it kills you.




- GUN DEATHS: Conservatives have one go-to statistic in the gun debate. The gun death rate in Chicago. But let’s look at Illinois overall. That blue state is an also-ran when it comes to gun deaths. The Deep South and the Mountain states are undisputed champions when it comes to burying residents with gunshot wounds. And what of big bad New York? The gun death rate in the Northeast is so low in parts it has almost literally disappeared off the map. And the gang-bangers in California? It appears they can’t keep up with the Bible-thumping good old boys and their self-defense regime.




- OBESITY: Many red states should consider changing their state animal to a corn dog and the state motto to ‘á la mode.’ On the off chance a dyed-in-the-wool right-winger might stumble across something healthy, cooks are on the alert to bread it, deep fry it, push it up against a biscuit, and smoother it in gravy. And just in case that does not maintain an impressive BMI there is always sweet tea and soda, which red states lead the nation in consuming.


- SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS: Let’s do a thought experiment. Imagine taking a population of horny, hormonal young people and telling them not to have sex until they are married while pretending there are no STIs, and keeping condoms a deep dark secret. What do you think will happen? If you guessed the urge to hook up, combined with grinding ignorance, would lead to an explosion of sexually transmitted disease, you would be correct. But that’s conservatism for you. They design policies that are based on teens and young adults having more impulse control than David Vitter and Jim Bakker.




- EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT: Of the 21 states with the lowest percentage of residents with a college degree, 18 are red states. On the flip side among the states with the highest percentage of college grads, you will not hit a red state until you get to Kansas at #17.



- STATE GDP PER CAPITA: Blue states are generally more productive than red states. - More + 133 Comments,

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/3/18/2086569/-To-lead-a-long-healthy-weathy-life-don-t-live-in-a-red-state-a-statistical-survey-of-GOP-failure
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- Select Comments, Ed.:

- People move to Texas because they think it will be cheaper — lower cost of housing, lower taxes….but the schools are poor — most people end up trying to send their kids to private schools, the housing has few building code regulations & the electric grid is unregulated, you never know what your power bill is going to be.. If your sister is conservative & looking for a more conservative location, Blue state conservative can still go into shock when they hear red state conservatives… & find out they are the new liberals in the area. (Folks here looking for cheaper housing, w/ a yard move to Idaho — but end up hating it, but find they can’t afford to move back to OR/WA).

- I wonder how accurate some of those figures are, like Ill. supposedly losing more than 100,000 population since 2020 & if they really “moved out of state.” does anyone know how they figure this? First of all, it lost more than 37,000 to Covid. Sound, despite almost certain an census undercount in Black/Hispanic communities in Chicago. Chicago GAINED 50,000 in the last census so why would this suddenly reverse in 2020/21? I also question whether “low taxes” is a reason people move or if that’s GOP propaganda...

- Low taxes IS — or was, anyway — a big reason; many of the moves in my family in the 70s-90s were prompted by lower property and/or sales & income taxes, I remember many of these discussions at family gatherings. My dad was not considered particularly astute about much of anything but people did pay attention to him on money stuff — he moved from IL to WI almost entirely because of taxes. BUT these people were mostly Republicans...

- Often times the ‘lower taxes’ line is a myth...

- Look at data from moving companies. U-Haul & United Van Lines show Ill. was a top outbound state in 2021, behind only NJ & CA. But the parts of Ill. that seem to be losing population aren’t the places where most residents live. Chicago & collar counties are still pretty solid. The vast majority of the pop. losses have occurred outside of the 7-county CMAP region... Also “losing population” loses nuance. Significant demographic change - this year’s remapping is particularly tense because of the city’s changing racial makeup. While Chicago’s Black population dropped 10%, its Latino population jumped 5% & its Asian American population surged 30%, according to the 2020 census.

- Millions of people (mostly Black or Latin) were undercounted in the 2020 census.

- We’re looking to go to Colo. whenever the upper-middle IT range starts hiring again at decent wages for experience & did some research...

[appalachiablue]

1. Health care systems & childcare services are impt. but missing.