“Red” States

College Graduates Now One Third Of Those Ages 25-29: The Highest Percentage Ever

Ronald 37 Comments

Higher education has reached more and more Americans over time, and now among those 25-29, one third have at least a four year undergraduate degree.

More Americans have started and graduated college in recent years, spurred on by the Great Recession, and the recognition that unemployment levels among college graduates is 3.3 percent for those ages 25-34, compared to 11.8 percent for high school graduates.

Still, too many students fail to finish a four year, or even a two year degree, and in many states, the graduation rate is much lower than in others, with the trend being that the “Blue” states have higher graduation rates than the “Red” states, another indication of two Americas in our midst, one in the 21st century, and the other moving back socially to the 19th century in many ways, sadly!

And low income American families still see only about one out of ten of their children going on to college and graduating in a six year period, while high income families see seven out of ten children gaining a college degree.

And women are graduating at higher rates than men, another disturbing issue regarding the emotional maturity of young men, many seeing just having any job as enough, making more women more highly educated than men, and in many cases, choosing not to marry someone of lesser educational attainment.

And Asian Americans continue to have higher percentages of college degrees, followed by whites, blacks and Hispanics, respectively.

The road to the future in a technology based and digital economy is higher education, so those not attaining that goal are at a long range disadvantage in the American economy of the future.

States Refusing To Expand Medicaid Are Victimizing The Poorest, Saying Their Lives Do Not Matter, Only That They Are Born!

Ronald Leave a comment

It is amazing how states that are anti abortion are also, in many cases, very willing to victimize the poor, once they are born, by refusal to expand Medicaid for the most needy!

So the idea seems to be to make sure everyone is born, and then you are on your own, as far as health care, if you are unfortunate enough to be the poorest in our society in those states, all of which are “red” or Republican states!

Among the states that will punish people who are poor, include:

Texas
Florida
Georgia
Alabama
Louisiana
Mississippi
Kansas

Altogether, about half the states will resist Medicaid expansion, and therefore determine that the lives of the poor who have no medical coverage do not matter!

And IF these people go to emergency rooms, they will get minimal care, and it will cost more than covering them under Medicaid!

So people who believe in the “right to life” are willing to see lives shortened, as long as they are born! After that, you are on your own, including children and the elderly!

What hypocrisy on the part of these state governors and legislatures, and the Republican Party, and yet the people in those states vote Republican out of ignorance and promotion of racism and nativism!

Absolutely unbelievable! Is this the kind of country we want to live in and promote for the future? The concept is maddening!

The “Red” South Becoming More “Blue” Rapidly For Presidential Elections

Ronald Leave a comment

The Republican Party has depended on the South for much of its electoral vote strength in the past thirty years, but rapidly, the movement from “Red” to “Blue” is emerging, especially in looking to the Presidential contests of the future.

Barack Obama was able to win Florida and Virginia both times he was on the ballot, and also won North Carolina the first time.

But Texas and Georgia are perceived as moving toward the Democrats by 2020, if not 2016, which would mean that the five largest states in the South in electoral votes would have 111 electoral votes likely to be in the Democratic camp, while the Republicans would only have 49 electoral votes from the other six “Old South” states of Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi!

So the GOP has a major problem, as if it loses the South, two to one in electoral votes, and already has lost the Northeast, the Pacific Coast, and the Upper Midwest, what is left for it to grow into a major challenger to the Democratic Party in the future?

Rick Scott,Jan Brewer, John Kasich Accept ObamaCare Medicaid; Rick Perry And Nikki Haley Still Show No Concern For Those Without Health Care!

Ronald 9 Comments

A total of seven Republican Governors, including Rick Scott of Florida, Jan Brewer of Arizona, and John Kasich of Ohio, along with the Governors of New Mexico, Nevada, Michigan and North Dakota have dropped their opposition to ObamaCare in the form of federally backed funds for expanded Medicaid for their poor citizens, with Scott’s announcement the most stunning reversal of all, but with gubernatorial elections around the corner in 2014.

This has led to fury among Tea Party radicals who cannot believe that Scott has reneged on his Tea Party followers, and it might lead to a primary challenge to Scott, who has also reversed course on education funding. So this could make it harder for him and other Republican Governors to win another term in office, and give Democrats the chance to retake the Governor’s chair in many “Red” states, many of whom went that direction in 2010, giving the Tea Party prominence that it has used to try and take America back to the 19th century!

But two prominent holdouts remain–Governor Rick Perry of Texas and Governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina— representing two states that are, overall, more degraded in their poverty statistics than most other states. These two Governors are making victims of millions of citizens, who are being condemned for being poor, an absolute disgrace!

And meanwhile, Tea Party Senators are becoming more outrageous in their rhetoric, including Kentucky Senator Rand Paul and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, with the latter being coined by some the “new Joseph McCarthy” , due to his wild and false accusations against former Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, Barack Obama’s choice to be Secretary of Defense. These two men have no problem in being reckless in their behavior, as both are extremely ambitious, and think they will be President in 2017, a total delusion on their part!

It is people like Paul and Cruz, along with Perry and Haley, that demonstrate that the Republican Party is doomed in the future, until and when they purge these hateful, despicable figures out of the equation of the future of the GOP!

Total Poverty, Deprivation, Lack Of Safety Net For Substantial Numbers Of Americans The Reality: The “American Dream” Denied!

Ronald 12 Comments

Despite the denial and lack of concern of many conservatives and Republicans about the tremendous maldistribution of wealth which has developed in the thirty two years since Ronald Reagan came to the Presidency, new statistics indicate just how desperate many Americans are, and how that desperation is particularly obvious in the South and in the Southwest parts of the United States.

Nearly half of US households, containing about 132 million Americans are in a dire situation, where they do not have any emergency funds for as little as three months, if a natural disaster, medical emergency or sudden unemployment occurred.

Think of the mental anguish these people go through if any of the above emergencies suddenly arise, with a feeling of no hope, and the possibility of homelessness, total destruction of personal credit, and the likelihood of becoming sick from stress itself!

Thirty percent of Americans do not have a savings account, and eight percent do not have any bank account at all.

In ten states, the poverty and hopelessness of a substantial part of the population is most evident, including in order:

Nevada
Georgia
Mississippi
Florida
Arkansas
North Carolina
Tennessee
New Mexico
Arizona
Louisiana

Notice also that only three states of these ten listed are “Blue” or Democratic (Nevada, Florida, New Mexico), while the other seven are “Red” or Republican.

With so many people in these states and others having little or no health insurance coverage, and low wage jobs predominating, and high credit card debt levels, one wonders how these unfortunate citizens cope with waking up daily, with such gloom and doom on the horizon! The “American Dream” is being denied!

The Sixty Percent Plus States In The Presidential Election Of 2012

Ronald 8 Comments

An analysis of the results of the 2012 Presidential Election, now that all of the votes have been tabulated, shows that eight states voted for Mitt Romney by sixty percent or more, and that seven states and the District of Columbia voted for Barack Obama by sixty percent or more.

The “best” Romney states are in order:

Utah—72.62 percent
Wyoming—68.64 percent
Oklahoma—66.77 percent
Idaho—64.09 percent
West Virginia—62.27 percent
Arkansas—60.57 percent
Alabama—60.55 percent
Kentucky—60.49 percent

The “best” Obama states are in order:

District of Columbia—90.91 percent
Hawaii—70.55 percent
Vermont—66.57 percent
New York—63.32 percent
Rhode Island—62.70 percent
Maryland—61.97 percent
Massachusetts—60.65 percent
California—60.24 percent

Note that the District of Columbia and the seven highest voting states have the highest incomes and educational achievements, with three of them being New England States, three of them Middle Atlantic locations, and two being the Pacific Coast.

On the other hand, the Romney states are among the lowest in incomes and educational accomplishments, including three being Mountain states, two being Southern states, and three being Border states (Oklahoma, West Virginia, Kentucky).

This makes clear that poorer “Red” states are simply not using their intelligence, as voting Republican does not benefit them at all, while the “Blue” states are wealthier and understand the benefits of support of the Democratic Party!

The “Blue” States Support The “Red States: Time For Republican States To Take Care Of Themselves!

Ronald 1 Comment

The “Blue” or Democratic states are mostly donor states, more prosperous, who give much more in tax money to the federal government than they gain in return.

The “Red” or Republican states are mostly poor states who give much less in tax money to the federal government, and benefit from the generosity of the “Blue” states.

So we have Speaker John Boehner refusing to call up a bill for disaster relief for New York and New Jersey, due to the damages wrought by Hurricane Sandy!

But in “Red” states, disaster relief is much more quickly dispensed, as for instance, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina in 2005!

This is eminently unfair, and due a lot to envy and jealousy of the advantages in so many ways of New York and New Jersey, culturally, educationally, and otherwise, by states that are in many cases still backward, and living more in the 19th century, while New York, New Jersey, and other “Blue” states live in the 21st century!

Not all “Blue” states are donor states, but 17 of 26 which are include:

New York
New Jersey
Massachusetts
Connecticut
New Hampshire
Rhode Island
Delaware
Florida
Michigan
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Illinois
Colorado
Nevada
Washington
Oregon
California

The only “Red” state which is a donor state is Texas!

It is time for change on this matter!

Craziness Of State Laws And State Leadership On Gun Regulation Is Mindblowing!

Ronald Leave a comment

Florida and Iowa allow ex felons the right to purchase guns, but make it nearly impossible for them to gain the right to vote.

Texas Governor Rick Perry and Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell want teachers to be armed when they teach their classes to students of all ages.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and Florida Governor Rick Scott see no reason to pass stronger gun laws, with both allowing concealed weapons, and Arizona allowing guns in bars and restaurants.

Other mostly “Red” states have state legislators and Congressmen and Senators totally unphased by the Sandy Hook Massacre in Connecticut.

The National Rifle Association has encouraged more purchase of guns as a safety measure, although already, there are more guns than people in America.

This country is living, at least in some parts, in their own delusional world, a world of bloodshed and violence, with people having paranoia about “enemies”, and our entire population endangered by the likelihood of continued “Sandy Hook” events in the future, and no plan to do anything constructive about it!

President Barack Obama has commissioned Vice President Joe Biden to come up with plans in the next six weeks for serious action, but the odds of actual accomplishment of goals with Republican opposition so severe, is highly speculative and unlikely!

“47 Percenter” Mitt Romney Gains “47 Percent” Of Final Presidential Vote, From The True “Moochers”: The Ultimate Irony!

Ronald Leave a comment

Mitt Romney lost the Presidency for many reasons too numerous to list here, but ultimately, his “47 percent” comment, denigrating nearly half of the nation as “moochers”, did him in.

So now, the ultimate irony: Mitt Romney ended up winning 47.49 percent of the total national vote for President! So the “47 percent” candidate won “47 percent”–so appropriate!

And get this, he won the “Moocher Vote”, defined differently than he portrayed it!

After all, he won a majority of the wealthy, who “mooch” off all of us through corporate “welfare” and Bush tax cuts!

And he won a majority of the senior citizens, many of whom are better off than everyone else through America, but of course became so because of Democratic programs and laws, not Republican laws, which have never benefited the older part of our society. It is Social Security and Medicare, Democratic designed programs, which have made senior citizens as prosperous as many of them are!

And Romney won the “red” states of the South and Great Plains and Mountain West, which are, in most cases, the poorest states, who continue to get “handouts” in the form of shifting of tax benefits from the more prosperous, “blue”, Democratic states in the Northeast and New England, the upper Midwest, and the Pacific Coast states.

So, the TRUE “moochers”, the “47 percent”, voted for the “47 percenter”, Mitt Romney!

The Reality Of The Next Decade: Split Government Control!

Ronald Leave a comment

It is now clear that our political system is facing a long period, probably at least a decade, of split government control on the national level!

The Democratic Party has a long term edge with the electorate, as a result of the two Barack Obama Presidential victories, with the only difference being the loss in 2012 of Indiana and North Carolina.

But with the growing Hispanic and Latino population in Arizona, Texas, and Georgia, the likelihood of those states turning “blue’ from “red” over this decade, is becoming more likely, and with that manifestation, the Electoral College situation will become much more one sided than it is now, and yet still allow for some states to wander over to the other side without affecting a Democratic victory for the White House.

Additionally, with the surprise gain in seats by the Democrats in the US Senate, only losing one state, Nebraska, and gaining Maine, Massachusetts, and Indiana in return, and more Republican seats up for reelection in 2014, the likelihood of the Senate staying majority Democratic for the long term, continues to grow.

However, with the gerrymandering of seats by Republican legislatures and Governors in 2010, even though the Democrats won more votes for the US House of Representatives, the Republicans were able to hold on to the majority, although reduced by about eight seats. The Democrats will have trouble gaining 17 seats or more because of the gerrymandering, and even if they do gain a slight edge, could easily lose it two or four years after winning the majority.

So the likelihood of a Democratic President, Democratic Senate, and a Republican House becomes more a normal situation until at least the next reapportionment of seats after the 2020 Census, and the Presidential and Congressional Elections of that year, but with the advantage that 2020 is a Presidential year, while 2010 was not.

So this means the odds of a long range stalemate and gridlock in American politics are clear cut!