Red States Are the True Welfare States

Americans at play in the fields of America.

I've pointed this out before, but it bears repeating: Republican votin', conservative leanin' states not only receive a higher proportion of welfare dollars than their blue-state brethren but also run a net deficit with the federal government. They receive more in federal dollars than their tax payers pay in federal taxes. Blue California, for example, runs a net surplus, paying more in taxes than it receives in federal dollars back.

Read about this phenomenon here, here, here, here, and here.

And yet, the Republicans continue to rail against programs that help those in poverty. So in this sense it would appear that predominantly white Republicans hating the poor is not racist (whew, I finally found a way not to call out Republicans as racist!), their hatred of the poor is an equal opportunity hatefest. Republicans hate the poor because they steal money for their pathetic lives that could otherwise be granted its proper place, you know, in the pockets of the rich.

 After watching the Republicans lately, can you explain it another way? The wealthy are the job creators! Oh, really? Tell that to the American family above.

Think about that the next time you hear conservatives in the halls of Congress preaching against the takers.

Finding the blacks and Hispanics in this picture is like finding Waldo.

A final, recent look at the problem of misperception among whites:

The actual facts about welfare have always been pretty clear; whites and children are the greatest recipients and beneficiaries of various programs, but that’s not good fodder for talk radio.  From the beginning of government sponsored welfare programs, discriminatory policies were enacted to keep blacks off the rolls (like excluding farm workers and domestics in the 1950’s) and even once those policies were removed media and politicians, especially on the right, insisted on maintaining the myth that the face of poverty in America was a black thing.

I wonder if this guy is on Social Security, Medicare, V.A. benefits, or all of the above?

Update. Almost forgot to share this with you:

The new Ozzie and Harriet, without the Ozzie.

Read the excellent Daily Kos article with it.