Sunday, March 12, 2017

Bluexit: we pay our own way

Good article from the New Republic on the Blue States exiting the US. Why? Because they carry their own weight, pay their own way. Not only that, they pay for the free riders in the Red States. The latter States are twice as dependent on federal aid. The urban areas are blue and generate 2/3 of economic activity that pay the government's bills via taxes.

The article doesn't promote literal succession, just metaphorically in the sense of delimiting the federal government. Blue areas will keep more of their tax dollars to invest in their own communities and the progressive policies that sustain them. After all, isn't that a Red mainstay, to let the people choose their own fate, not the federal government?

So the agenda?
Cut federal income tax to the bone or abolish it altogether. Local and State taxes will pay for our own communities. Since the blue areas have all the hospitals, medical schools and medical research, we'll come up with our own healthcare plan; take your federal healthcare plans and shove 'em. And forget your national elections; we'll elect who we want to our locales to implement progressive programs. The money we save without federal taxes we'll invest in our own local Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. The rest of you can be responsible for yourselves. That is your main talking point after all, right?

I appreciate the sentiment that it's too late to reach out, especially when the Reds don't accept facts and a common bond. Although we want to help everyone it's impossible when they try to decapitate that helping hand. We need to focus on our values and policies in the areas where they are strongest, to retrench and build the kind of world we want to see. Only by successful example will we ever get the Reds to come around, especially when they quit getting our hard-earned tax dollars to support them.


No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.