Editor,
The other day, my friend Dave and I were wondering why the poorest states in the USA both spend the least on education and also continually vote Republican.
One could say, well if they are poor, obviously they cannot spend very much on public education. But, like Mississippi and Arkansas, these states spend a great deal on high school football and college football and the coaches often get larger salaries than, say, science teachers.
Why do poor states vote Republican since the Republicans do so very little for poor people? Republican legislatures cut food stamps, significantly decrease Medicaid, ban sex education and the medical services of Planned Parenthood and, in Congress, line the pockets of the big corporations and the rich.
Research shows that the “Red State Conservatives” tend to believe every word Fox News manipulates, insist that the Bible is the literal Word of God while ignoring verses they do not like, tend to be racists especially about immigrants and people of color “taking their jobs,” hate LBGTQ people and their rights, and do not read.
The best example of their myopic ignorance is uncritical acceptance of a corrupt president whose record for lying has now exceeded 3001, who has colluded with Putin so he could steal the election, has frequented sex workers and then tried to buy their silence, never paid his workers when he was a “developer” and has done absolutely nothing to fix our infrastructure, decaying schools, the environment and pollution.
They do not care what rotten things Trump has done as long as he says he is “Pro-Life” and appoints cabinet members who are intent on destroying their agencies.
It is time to wake up to our democracy being destroyed. Poor and working people deserve to have a government that helps them and enriches their lifestyle, not a charlatan.
T.A. Laughlin