William Barr, the Attorney General of the United States, has declared three American cities as “anarchist jurisdictions.” No one is quite sure what that means just yet, but it should be of no surprise that the three cities are in blue states. They are New York City, NY; Portland, OR; and Seattle, WA.
In doing this, he seeks to withdraw Federal funding from those cities. Likely, the courts will stop this from ever happening, but money could be withdrawn before the fight is over. These monies are used to provide needed social support for the populations of those cities.
This is just a part of the ongoing attack that the Trump administration has been waging on blue states, and basically anyone Trump considers a political enemy. However, this is a fight that may backfire spectacularly on Trump, and his lickspittle Barr. In fact, this is an avenue that the Dems can use to fight back against Trump and his Supreme Court nomination scheme. It would be a risky move, but it certainly would create a nightmare scenario for Trump.
Every state pays into the Federal budget. Then this budget is used to provide states with federal dollars for services provided for their populations. This method is designed to prevent poorer states from not being able to provide for their constituents.
One of the reasons that the government runs a deficit is because most of the states take more from the fed than they pay into it. Most Americans don’t know how this system works. Politicians use that ignorance to manipulate populations.
Right now, the GOP is claiming that blue state bailouts will bankrupt the government. This is not an avenue they should be following. It is no secret to those in the know that traditionally red states take far more from the government than traditionally blue states.
There are eight states that are referred to as “giver” states. This means they pay more into the federal budget than they take out of the budget. The other forty-two states are referred to as “taker” states.
Of the eight “givers,” six of them are traditionally blue states. Of the biggest “takers,” the majority are traditionally red states. In fact, the largest “taker” state is Kentucky, the state represented by Mitch McConnell, the majority leader of the Senate.
It might be time for blue states to, at least, threaten to withhold their contributions to the Federal budget. Trump has never made the slightest pretense that he wants to be President to the entire nation. It that is the case, maybe the part of the nation that he wants to subjugate should begin to look after their own interests.
It is safe to say that blue America is more able to take care of themselves than red America.