Reply #8: You'll be hard pressed to find them [View All]

[ArthurDent]

The meme isn't all that true.

1) It's hard to say how the biggest taxpayers -- the top 50% of income earners -- voted in '04. Yes, many of them live in blue states, but let's face it, a lot of people in all cities voted Bush. Take NYC: Who was more likely to be the Bush voter? The Greenwich Village artist? The Harlem deli owner? The NYU student? Or the Upper East Side attorney? On the other hand, who in the red states is more likely to be charitable -- the Kerry voter (who is more likely to be unemployed or otherwise indigent) or the church-tithing Bush voter?

2) Outside of highways, there spending is mostly to programs that do not, in any real sense, "support" those living in red states. (That is, they are not in the colloquial sense welfare beneficiaries.) Even highway spending is a questionable way to suggest that blue pays for red, but that's a topic for another day. On point: Of the $2b spent in 2003, only about $800m came from income tax. $400m (about 20% overall, 50% of income tax) went to the defense/homeland security. It's hard to say that said money went to the benefit of red states over blue.