Readers Write: The difference between “blue” and “red” states

The Island Now

To start, let me ask the question, do you know the difference between the “blue” and “red” states?

For those who aren’t sure, let me explain… a blue state, is a state that generally votes Democratic in the presidential election, i.e. New York and much of the East Coast and California and much of the West Coast.

Red states are the states that generally vote Republican in the presidential election, i.e. many of the “flyover” states and a majority of the South.

So what is the difference between a blue state and a red state?

The major difference between a blue and a red state is that blue states typically have significantly higher taxes than those of red states.

The significance of that is the more you tax the citizens of your state, the more money your state has; and the more it can spend on things like healthcare, infrastructure and schools.

In the Republican-controlled red states, (control of the state houses, assembly, and governorship), they all work together to do one thing… cut taxes.

So what’s the problem with cutting taxes… well, I guess we’re all about to find out.

Tax cuts lead to lower state tax revenues, and thus, many Republican-led red states tend to find themselves in the “red,” and thus, have no money for things like healthcare, infrastructure and education.

A perfect example of this is the experiment Kansas tried in electing Gov. Sam Brownback, whose goal was to eliminate income taxes.

Anyone who’s paid attention to Kansas’ economy knows that by the end of his term, which is ending November 2018, Kansas has been left bankrupt.

The experiment was an unconditional failure.

You see the problem is that in order to have money to spend on schools, roads, and hospitals, the state government needs money.

And the way to do that is to collect the money from their citizens by way of TAXES.

I’m going to be honest with you. I am a Democrat in a blue state and while the tax cut is not in my state, it directly becomes my problem. Why?

Because, as a blue state, New York and other blue states with large cosmopolitan centers, like California, have “BANK.”

And when I say Bank, what I mean is, excess money. That is, we tax more and have more money to spend. And what do we do with all that money?

We send it to Washington DC as federal taxes. In fact we send more money to DC in federal taxes then we receive back from federal spending. Much more.

So what does the federal government do with all our money?

They use it to bail out red states, run by Republican-led Congresses that cut taxes for the rich even though they know it will stifle the economy and hurt the most vulnerable in their state.

Places like Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi reap the benefits of New York’s tax dollars.

Let’s talk about the word hypocrisy.

While the Republican’s broken record statement is “we don’t need your help,” it’s those very Republican-led red states that receive the most of the federal spending.

And they get it from… you guessed it… the blue states who DO tax like, for example, THE GREAT STATE OF NEW YORK.

It begs the question, why do we help… why do we send our tax dollars to the federal government even though we know it’s going to people who don’t want our help?

Maybe its because the Democratic philosophy has always been that we, as a country, need to take care of ALL citizens… even those we disagree with.

I must admit that for a while, that made sense to me, but… I must say “no more.”

To the many Republicans in red states who repeat the phrase, “we don’t want your help,” then I say, “Okay, I won’t give you any.”

As New Yorkers, it’s time we put aside our charitable ethos and allow the red states to go it alone.

I propose that New York begin a federal tax protest. The goal?

Keep our federal tax dollars by refusing to send it to Trump’s “shithole” swamp (where it will inevitably pass through to his “shithole” southern and flyover states.)

Instead of wasting our money on people who don’t want our help, let’s keep our money RIGHT HERE.  Make New York great again.

Let’s invest in our own bridges, roads, schools and hospitals — instead of Alabama’s.

Let’s make New York the “Shining City on the Hill!”

Justin Harnick

Port Washington

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