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I always enjoy listening to our right wing friends talk about how we need states rights so that they can experiment with different ideas to see which ones work the best. It's been awhile since I've ran the numbers so I thought I'd check in with our friends the states again and see who's doing better.......
Unemployment Rates for States
Of the top 17 states in in the country with the best unemployment rates...10 are generally liberal states and only 7 are conservative.
Of the bottom 17 states in the country with the worst unemployment rates it is the opposite. only 7 liberal states with 10 conservative.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ates_by_income
Of the top 12 states in the country ranked by median income 11 are liberal and only 1 was conservative.
Of the bottom 12 states in the country ranked by median income all 12 are conservative states. ALL OF THEM!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._states_by_GDP
of the top 16 states ranked by GDP only 3 voted Republican in the last two presidential elections whereas 13 voted for president Obama.
Of the bottom 16 states ranked by GDP only 7 voted for Obama while the other 9 voted republican.
The 10 states with the best quality of life
Of the 10 best states ranked by quality of life 9 voted for Obama twice, only 1 did not.
Of the 10 worst states in the country as ranked by quality of life only 1 voted for Obama while 9 voted for Romney.
So Republicans tell us why exactly it is that you think the states you control need more freedom to fail even worse than they already are?
But here's the thing - the problems that red states are having are NOT because of conservative governance. Conservative governance ain't helping, but it isn't the cause. It took me a long, long time to figure this out, but those states are not poor because they're red states - they're red states because they're generally poor and generally more rural than their blue-state counterparts.
And this isn't an American thing - it's a human thing, seen all over the world. Look in any nation you want, and you'll find that when compared to that nation's religious and social mores, that nation's rural areas are mostly more conservative, and its urban areas more liberal.
So what it boils down to is the reason why red states are red is because they're rural and (mostly) worse off than the national average when it comes to economic well-being. Again, they're not poor because they're red - they're red because they're rural and generally economically worse off than the rest of us.
I disagree with this heavily. States like Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin are relatively rural. They are every bit as rural as many conservative states and they are doing very well. At least Wisconsin was until Walker got control a few years ago. Now they're sinking. What is actually happening in the states boils down to education and morals. Intelligent people..particularly young well educated professionals don't want to live in ****ty conservative states filled with racism and bigotry where no investments are made in education, science, arts and infrastructure. It is well educated young people that are the single biggest resource that drive a powerful economy and if you can't attract them to your state your state is doomed.
The state of Minnesota has one of the best educational systems not only in the country, but in fact the world. They are cranking out young educated professionals at a clip like no other state in the country. That is why they have been ranked the #1 state in the country for business last year despite having some of the highest tax rates in the country. http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/24/00-advantages-minnesota-is-2015s-top-state.html Those tax dollars are being spent wisely on education and infrastructure that grow the state and make it a Mecca for business despite it being freezing cold half the year and in fly over country.
But I think you're looking at a correlation and not a causation. The conservative policy is the primary cause although it's a somewhat circular problem.That's why I used the word, "generally". There will be exceptions to the rule, but generally speaking, I am right. The more rural a region is, generally speaking, the less-educated, the poorer that region will be...and as a result, the more conservative that region will be. Again, this isn't an American thing - it's a human thing.
I'm basing this off standardized test scores for students. Educational attainment does not necessarily indicate where people are originally from.
And the reason for this is simple: the larger a city, the more industry or shipping or whatever means of making big money that city is likely to have...and the more likely that city will have not just one university, but multiple universities. Think about it - where are the very best universities in America? In and around large cities. Same thing all across the planet. Sure, you'll find some good universities in rural areas...but it's simply a matter of market forces that result in the best universities are in and around major metropolitan areas.
But I think you're looking at a correlation and not a causation. The conservative policy is the primary cause although it's a somewhat circular problem.
I'm basing this off standardized test scores for students. Educational attainment does not necessarily indicate where people are originally from.
Sure, but what keeps these students from moving back to rural areas after college? They clearly have friends and family in those rural areas.
Sure, but what keeps these students from moving back to rural areas after college? They clearly have friends and family in those rural areas.
I'm sorry, but that is absolutely ridiculously. The notion that the policies of the states have no bearing on who chooses to live there, who grows up there, is just nonsense. The fact that you have rural regions, beset with poverty, with less-than-average education is a direct result of the fact that you're not doing a very good job of growing your cities, and improving your university system. That's something that conservatives in southern states simply don't understand and won't do.And I thought as you did, using the exact same arguments that you are giving, until a strong conservative (who had previously earned my respect - he really was a good guy) forced me to see that the arguments that I was using - that you're using now - are in violation of the correlation/causation logical fallacy. But it's really not a which-came-first-chicken-or-egg circular kind of problem. There is a cause - actually a set of causes - that result in the conservative mindset: a rural region, beset with poverty, with less-than-average education, and not a great deal of interaction with other cultures.
I don't think those high level degrees are quite as important as you seem to think especially in terms of what we're talking about.What matters is not the standardized test scores, but the average level of educational attainment for the state's population as a whole...of the people who actually live there. And when it comes to the highest level of education, Minnesota's in 18th place. Considering their lack of high-tech industries as compared to tech-heavy states like NY or WA or more than a dozen others, Minnesota's not doing bad.
it's not surprising that they are not as conservative as any of the Deep South states.
Let me enlighten you, I am a university student form a rural area with no intention of ever returning, no matter what. The biggest and most important reason is job availability. Cities are filled with all kinds of well-paying jobs, rural areas not so much, and what does exist usually pays next to nothing. Then there is also the quality of life hit you taker by living in a rural area. Rural areas have the worst schools, offer little in the way of services, entertainment is near non-existent, etc. People may have family in rural areas but you can always just visit them. With friends you tend to lose all ties with the friends you went to high school with (usually realizing most were jerks) and usually have better friends from university.
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