Red states should be seeing red

By Vernos Branco, Las Vegas

Friday, Jan. 2, 2015 | 2 a.m.

Red states run by so-called fiscally conservatives are not cut out to be what they claim.

This bloc of Southern, Republican-controlled red states is far from being conservative. Behind the curtain of misinformation you will find data contradicting these politicians.

For example 97 of the poorest counties are in red states. Nine of the poorest 10 states are Republican-controlled, and poverty levels are much higher in these states.

To add insult to injury, people living in southern states are less likely to move up the economic ladder, and many Southerners living in poverty are being denied access to affordable health care.

The result is costing those red states hundreds of millions while blue states pick up the slack in tax revenues. In other words, those claiming they want small government depend on the federal government the most.

And I haven’t begun to touch on obesity, cigarette smokers and teen pregnancies.

To top off this issue, a poll by Gallup indicated the general well being and state of happiness as being low in these states run by so-called fiscal conservatives.

My sources are the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Department of Labor, Centers for Disease Control, Equality of Opportunity Project, the Urban Institute, and the Martin Properity Institute.

Last but not least, the Southern Poverty Center reports Southern states have the highest membership of hate groups.

Are we about to replay the social unrest of the ’50s and ’60s?