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Interesting study in the NY Times today about the most corrupt states. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/weekinreview/14marsh.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=most%20corrupt%20states&st=cse
It seems that of the states (not counting DC and the territories) that top the list, the top seven all voted for McCain and it is not until number 8 of the states, that you get to Delaware and number 9, that you get to Florida.
Three is more than regional pride in this, there is regional distinction.
I pose a question. If you were a well qualified senior in high school (and not a star jock strap) and you had your choice of which college to attend, which from among these ten would you choose?
1. LSU
2. Alabama
3. Auburn
4. South Carolina
5. Northwestern
6. Michigan
7. Oberlin (Ohio).
8. Rugters
9. UC, Berkeley
10. Boston College
(I left out the Ivy League on purpose)
Is it happenstance that the most corrupt states have the least regarded higher education; voted against Obama; and produce union busting Senators?
I am the son of a man who in the thirties was a charter member of a newly organized machinist local (AFL). I was fortunate enough to plow through college and law school on scholarships. But in my family, magazine bibles included Colliers, the Reader's Digest and the American Federationist. One of my uncles was a charter member of Steelworker's local (CIO). Another was employed by a non-union tool and die company. Made for interesting, and loud, arguments at family gatherings.
Shebly, Corker, Demint et al are a dying breed. They are going to destroy the GOP as a national force in Congress. If the next GOP candidate for President doesn't distance himself from these clowns, he will make Alf Landon look like a political genius. Ironically, the bad times may produce the one thing these clowns fear most: a rebirth of the union movement. And its spread to the white collars.
The driving force behind American prosperity has been the ability of the American middle class to both save and spend. Henry Ford discovered that. Pay good wages and you can sell your product.
The GOP clowns have no vision except exploitation and ultimately they will fail. The GOP will become a regional party and that region will ultimately lose until it too sheds them, like a rattle snake sheds its skin. The US is shedding them now. And like the dried skin of the rattle snake, all they will be able to make is noise.
Or maybe the proper analogy is a death rattle.
http://johnklotz.blogspot.com
