Bush's Welfare States
"Less Big Government" is one of the Republican mantras. According to many in the Red states, the government is taking YOUR money and giving it to someone else less deserving. Well, let's see just who's giving money to whom.
The Tax Foundation has published a state-by-state comparison between the amount of money paid in federal taxes vs. the amount of federal spending in each state. If there were a one to one ratio, and states each got back what they put into the pot, then for every $1.00 paid in taxes, each state would get back $1.00 in federal spending. But that's not the case. Some states end up giving the U.S. government a lot more in taxes than they get back in federal spending. Just how do these differences fall out among the states?
As you can see, the states with the largest population centers tend to get the short end of the stick. They also tend to be the strongest supporters of Kerry. Bush's supporters tend to come from the more rural states that are also getting the best out of the deal. To more fully illustrate the relationship between welfare states and support for Bush, I created this simple scatter plot.
This figure clearly shows that states with strong support for Bush also tend to be the states that get the most federal spending in return for their federal taxes paid. States that support Kerry are more likely to get back less in federal spending than they are paying out in taxes.
You know, it's hard to not start thinking like a Republican after looking at these graphs. Why should people in blue states like mine subsidize the red states that don't even appreciate the benefits that their government is giving them? If they don't like Big Government, fine. Give us back our money so that we can put it to better use here at home.