One of the most hilarious talking points coming from far-right Republicans and the Tea Party is that when “red states” like Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana are asked to bail out California or Massachusetts, that’s when they will finally become “fed up with socialism” and secede from the Union once and for all.
The problem with that meme is that it has no basis in reality: the more prosperous and Democrat-leaning areas of the United States are likely to be subsidizing dysfunctional “red states,” many of which are suffering from insufficient tax revenue and an abundance of low-wage workers who don’t have much to tax. Tea Party Republicans like to point out that poor cities like Detroit, Baltimore and Camden, New Jersey are run by Democrats, but they neglect to mention that some of the most affluent parts of the United States—from Manhattan to the Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area to Cambridge, MA to Seattle to Chicago’s North Shore suburbs—are dominated by the Democratic Party. People in those heavily Democratic areas pay a lot of federal income taxes, and quite often, their tax dollars go to red states.
Raw Story then lists the ten worst offenders, including Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Indiana, Montana, South Carolina, West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and of course Alaska.
Concerning Alaska they have this to say:
Alaska didn’t become part of the U.S. until 1959, and since then, it has gone Republican in every presidential race except 1964 (when Alaska favored Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson over Republican Barry Goldwater). A bastion of hard-right politics, Alaska is the state where Sarah Palin was elected governor in 2006. But when it comes to “small government,” Alaska Republicans don’t practice what they preach: according to WalletHub, Alaska receives $1.42 from the federal government for every dollar it contributes. Tax Foundation’s research showed Alaska receiving $1.93 from Uncle Sam for every dollar paid in. Alaska Republicans love to rail against the federal government, but the reality is that Alaska needs federal tax revenue badly in order to function.
Alaska is infamous for its harsh winters, which put considerable wear and tear on the state’s infrastructure—and the money for that much upkeep and maintenance has to come from somewhere. That somewhere is Boston, Santa Monica, Brooklyn, Seattle and all the other places that are full of upscale Democrats Palin considers “un-American.”
Still burns my ass that my state is now synonymous with Sarah Palin, and Tea Party politics. However they are not wrong that we are indeed parasites feeding off the largess of America's tax payers.
And in years past we were well aware of that fact, and grateful for the support.
Ted Stevens did not typically rail against big government, but instead made sure that when money was doled out that Alaska was at the top of the list. In fact for a time he was the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and made sure that Alaska got more than its fair share of federal moneys.
He was famous for working the system, not working against it. And in those days Senator Frank Murkowski, and Rep. Don Young were working right along with him toward that same goal.
However it must be remembered that this state is only one year older than I am. So it is, by comparison, only in its infancy. (Much like I am.) Hopefully when we reach our teen years we will become more capable, and finally get off our lethargic asses and start contributing a our fair share to this country.
However until then, much like Tennessee, Mississippi, and Montana we need to shut the fuck up about reducing the size of government and start demonstrating more respect for our federal sugar daddies.
