States That Voted Against Obama Receive The Most Funding From His Administration
Published with permission from AlterNet.
The cognitive dissonance and brazen hypocrisy that permeates the Republican Party appears to be the only thing that trickles down to the people.
The Pew Charitable Trusts recently found that states which voted against President Obama twice are actually big-gumint takers. While the elected governments of red states perpetually tout austerity measures and use bumper-sticker platitudes like “pull yourselves up by the bootstraps” (or eat them for sustenance), the attitudes of voters at the voting booth and their state legislatures don’t actually reflect this sentiment.
Synthesizing the report, the Hill pointed out that, “the average state that voted against Obama twice relied on federal funding for an average of 33.8 percent of its budget.” Conversely, it seems states that voted twice for President Obama made up “29.9 percent of the average state budget,” according to the report.
The states that sucked off Uncle Sugar the most just so happen to be the most virulently anti-Obama. Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, and Georgia all received more than 30 percent of their budgets from federal grants in 2014. Not surprisingly, all of these states voted for Sen. John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012. Said the Hill: “Republican states rely more heavily on federal dollars as a share of their budgets than do more Democratic states, largely because Southern states, especially, are more likely to have a higher percentage of residents living in poverty.”
In an effort to make hypocrisy an Olympic sport, it seems that one-third of federal dollars went to Social Security. Republicans have been trying to gut the program for years. Yet the states that voted for Obama, including Virginia, Connecticut, Hawaii, and Nevada, all rely on government money the least, with less than a quarter of their state revenue coming from the federal government.
Michael Hayne is a progressive comedian, writer and voice artist. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook or visit ImpressionsGuy.com.
The cognitive dissonance and brazen hypocrisy that permeates the Republican Party appears to be the only thing that trickles down to the people.
The Pew Charitable Trusts recently found that states which voted against President Obama twice are actually big-gumint takers. While the elected governments of red states perpetually tout austerity measures and use bumper-sticker platitudes like “pull yourselves up by the bootstraps” (or eat them for sustenance), the attitudes of voters at the voting booth and their state legislatures don’t actually reflect this sentiment.
Synthesizing the report, the Hill pointed out that, “the average state that voted against Obama twice relied on federal funding for an average of 33.8 percent of its budget.” Conversely, it seems states that voted twice for President Obama made up “29.9 percent of the average state budget,” according to the report.
The states that sucked off Uncle Sugar the most just so happen to be the most virulently anti-Obama. Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, and Georgia all received more than 30 percent of their budgets from federal grants in 2014. Not surprisingly, all of these states voted for Sen. John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012. Said the Hill: “Republican states rely more heavily on federal dollars as a share of their budgets than do more Democratic states, largely because Southern states, especially, are more likely to have a higher percentage of residents living in poverty.”
In an effort to make hypocrisy an Olympic sport, it seems that one-third of federal dollars went to Social Security. Republicans have been trying to gut the program for years. Yet the states that voted for Obama, including Virginia, Connecticut, Hawaii, and Nevada, all rely on government money the least, with less than a quarter of their state revenue coming from the federal government.