This is Rich

The Washington Times: Blue states buzz over secession

The idea [of "blue states" seceeding from the US] isn't just a joke; one top Democrat says, "The segment of the country that pays for the federal government is now being governed by the people who don't pay for the federal government."

"Some would say, 'Oh, poor Alabama. It's cut off from the wealth infusion that it gets from New York and California,' " said Lawrence O'Donnell, a veteran Democratic insider and now senior political analyst at MSNBC. "But the more this political condition goes on at the presidential level of the red and blue states, the more you're testing the inclination of the blue states to say, 'So what?' "

Mr. O'Donnell raised the subject of secession on "The McLaughlin Group" during the weekend. "Ninety percent of the red states are welfare-client states of the federal government," said Mr. O'Donnell, who was an aide to Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, New York Democrat.

In a telephone interview, Mr. O'Donnell said the red states that went to Mr. Bush "collect more from the federal government than they send in. New York and California, Connecticut — the states that are blue are all the states that are paying for the bulk of everything this government does, from ... Social Security to everything else, and the people in those states don't like what this government is doing."

Copyright 2004 News World Communications, Inc.

One of the first places discussing this is TaxProf Blog, where you can see for yourself how one part of the country leeches off the other.

What a great way to end the work week. I'm laughing at these welfare statists who cannot understand the irony of their complaint. When did they start getting huffy about wealth redistribution?

Via The Last Ditch

Posted by Drizzten at November 12, 2004 03:45 PM