Another Conservative Myth Debunked - Blog Day Afternoon Posted by Jeff (Saturday February 07 2004 @ 05:00PM EST)

Conservative rhetoric has long opposed government mandated redistribution of wealth. The faithful blare loud and hard their denunciation of the "Nanny State." A just distribution of wealth, they claim, is one that results from a fair rules market. In that climate, those with money are those who deserve it. Yet a close examination of the Federal government's teet shows that it's brimming with conservative piglets. In the last presidential election year, twenty-two states sucked more money out of the Federal trough then they paid into it. Of the states with a balance of payments surplus, eighteen (82%) voted for the candidate who voiced conservative rhetoric in the months leading up to the election. States with a Balance of Payment deficit are signified in gray whereas those with a surplus are signified in color (red or blue). Of the states in color, red denotes a state that voted for the conservative candidate (Bush) while blue states voted for Gore. source: The Public Policy Institute

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By The Pragmatist (Monday February 09 2004 @ 03:17PM EST)

As George Will has put it, "Americans are rhetorically conservative, but operationally liberal." A couple of relevant links: Daniel Pink's editorial in the NY Times is preserved here. He frames it in terms of Taker states and Giver states. The Tax Foundation frames it in terms of ratios of dollars received from vs dollars sent to Washington. They also show 2002 tax dollars compared to the 1992. Their full report with maps is here. Warning, it's a PDF for those whose religion prevents them from using that file format.

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By Jeff (Monday February 09 2004 @ 04:45PM EST)

I'm not sure how sucking the Federal teet makes one a liberal, I'll have to take your word for it...

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By The Pragmatist (Monday February 09 2004 @ 05:04PM EST) Those were George Will's words not mine. He was referring to the general ironic character of American politic on many issues not just taxes. Additionally, since a large chunk of the money's being tranferred back to the states are in the form of social security and medicare funds and they represent the legacy of liberalism as practiced in the US in the past century, they're not that far off the mark. [ reply | parent ]

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