[Vision2020] Question, V-Peeps . . .

[Ron Force]

A good discussion of this topic:

Blue States are from Scandinavia, Red States are from Guatemala
A theory of a divided nation.
	* Jonathan Cohn
	* October 5, 2012 | 12:00 am
Greg Mably
THIS ELECTION, we’ve heard a lot about divisions that define America. First it was the 99 percent and the 1 percent. Then it was the moochers and the makers. Politicians, of course, love to claim that we are more than the sum of our differences, but the dividers actually have a point. In all kinds of real and practical ways, the United States today is not one nation, but two. 
We’ve come to think of “blue” and “red” states as political and cultural categories. The rift, though, goes much deeper than partisan differences of opinion. The borders of the United States contain two different forms of government, based on two different visions of the social contract. In blue America, state government costs more—and it spends more to ensure that everybody can pay for basic necessities such as food, housing, and health care. It invests more heavily in the long-term welfare of its population, with better-funded public schools, subsidized day care, and support for people with disabilities. In some cases, in fact, state lawmakers have decided that the social contract provided by the federal government is not generous enough. It was a blue state that first established universal health insurance and, today, it is a handful of blue states that offer paid family and medical leave.
In the red states, government is cheaper, which means the people who live there pay lower taxes. But they also get a lot less in return. The unemployment checks run out more quickly and the schools generally aren’t as good. Assistance with health care, child care, and housing is skimpier, if it exists at all. The result of this divergence is that one half of the country looks more and more like Scandinavia, while the other increasingly resembles a social Darwinist’s paradise.
Americans have been arguing over which system is morally and economically superior since the beginning of the republic. But every now and then, the worldviews have clashed and forced a reckoning. The 2012 election is one of those moments...
Article continues: http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/magazine/108185/blue-states-are-scandinavia-red-states-are-guatemala?wpisrc=nl_wonk



________________________________
 From: deb <debismith at moscow.com>
To: Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com>; Moscow Vision 2020 <vision2020 at moscow.com> 
Sent: Friday, October 19, 2012 7:56 PM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Question, V-Peeps . . .
 
I'm amazed at the idiocy of some of those running for public office.

Of course we pay taxes. It is what supports the USA infrastructure (roads, bridges, public buildings). It is what pays the salaries of our elected officials (though it isn't who's $$ buys them into office). It is what makes all of us who are in the same boat---the United States of America--- able to float. It educates our children, cares for our elders, and assists our most needy. Those of us who have jobs and income pay a tiny percent of that to reap enormous benefits. Those who have no jobs or income gain just enough to almost "get by" as an investment each of us makes in the collective whole.

So, you don't like government, and you don't like taxes? Don't whine about the condition of the highways, give back your "tainted by socialism" social security check, tell your doctor that you refuse to use medicare or insurance because it is a socialist system of care, pay 100% of your elderly parent's care facility bill, and above all: do not call a cop when your house is robbed by a 17 year old who has no education, hope of  a job, food for the week, or compassion for those who put him/her in this situatuion--the cop is paid for by the taxes you don't want to pay, the kid's education was un-funded by your ilk, his mom's food stamps were cut off, and the economy/ job prospects won't get better under the "trickle down" economics that didn't work for Reagan and won't work now. ----- 
Debi R-S
(Oooops, just went on a rant. almost sorry)


Original Message ----- From: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
To: "Moscow Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2012 4:36 PM
Subject: [Vision2020] Question, V-Peeps . . .
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