The Odd Paradox

While Red States are "furious" about government spending and federal handouts, the fact is that they're the ones being handed shit-tons of money from the Blue States:

...the milk is mostly coming from Democratic states, and the sucking is being done by Republican states.

The "red" states up in arms about government spending receive the largest share of it. It isn't surprising that the more Republican a state leans, the more likely it is to be furious about government spending. But what is surprising is that states with the highest anti-spending sentiment appear to be the largest beneficiaries of government spending. Not only do red states swallow the lion's share of government spending, but Richardson found a linear relationship between the extent of GOP support in a state—and, by implication, the fervor of its anti-government sentiment—and the amount of federal largesse the state receives.

Alaska, home to Sarah Palin, and where two fiscally conservative Republican candidates for Senate recently mopped up 75 percent of the vote between them, received $1.64 in federal benefits for every $1 the state contributed to the national kitty. Massachusetts, Richardson found last year, received 82 cents for every dollar it paid into the national pool. No doubt as compensation, liberals in Massachusetts and other "blue" states also received lots of vitriol for being such out-of-control spenders.

The game of politics and messaging is pretty amazing. Red State politicians can whip their people into a fury about government spending, all while holding out their hands a lá Oliver Twist, "please sir, can I have more?"  Meanwhile, if Obama bought a funeral home tomorrow, people would stop dying. Incredible.