May 9, 2021: After more than a year, the nation has seen a geographic pattern that is defined by those states that are governed by the Republicans and those that are governed by Democrats. It has long been known that the socialist-liberal orientation of governance has been yielding floundering state level economic performance, explosive deficits, failing employment levels, and atrocious public health policy consequences. As the country emerges from the economic ravages of the persistent Covid shutdowns and lockdowns (well beyond the “two weeks to flatten the curve” March 2020 lie), we are now starting to determine just how severe the consequences were from a protracted freeze on the national economy and our society – and which regions/states suffered the most. We are also beginning to see the political effects of the Covid pandemic - many Americans have kept score and are sure to remember those who led their states through this public health and abuse of power nightmare.
In Breitbart’s most recent impact analysis of the pandemic, “States that voted for President Joe Biden in the last election lost more than twice the number of jobs during the pandemic on average than states who voted for former President Donald Trump.” (Trending Politics – Jonathan Davis; May 9, 2021) Similarly, the UK’s Daily Mail noted States that voted for Biden saw unemployment rates increase by an incremental average to 6.2%, while States that voted for Trump saw unemployment rates increase by an incremental 3.7% between February 2020 and December 2020. The Daily Mail data highlighted the fact that the 13 States that experienced the lowest overall unemployment rates are all Republican strongholds and were led by Alaska and Utah, where employment levels increased by 0.7% and 0.3% respectively. The next two best States (Kansas and Idaho) saw no change in their employment levels during the same period. (Trending Politics – Jonathan Davis; May 9, 2021)
By contrast, 13 of 14 States where pandemic job losses were the most significant voted for Biden (and are Democrat states), led by Nevada (10.2% of jobs lost) and Hawaii (9.3% of jobs lost). The single red-state that fell in this group of 14 worst performers was Iowa which lost 7.9% of its jobs from February to December 2020. It should be noted that several of the floundering blue-states, especially Nevada and Hawaii, depend heavily on tourism and thus they were enormously impacted by travel restrictions during the pandemic. In response, hotels and casinos in Vegas and Hawaii were closed for months – but such policy decisions were made by the Democrat officials who run the blue-states and should be held responsible for their abysmal failure. (Trending Politics – Jonathan Davis; May 9, 2021)
By comparison, Florida (a tourism-dependent state with the highest senior population in the country) showed tremendous resilience where job losses amounted to 6.3% and economic growth flourished relative to most other States in the country. Governor Ron DeSantis is to credit for the exceptional leadership and care taken in managing Florida’s public health while responsibly and effectively reopening his State late last summer - instead of procrastinating and hiding behind excessive restrictions in the manner that the blue-states did (and continue to do so).
The Breitbart report concluded:
“The difference in jobs lost is not because of the pandemic itself. States like Hawaii are not just the job-loss leader; Hawaii is also a state suffering from a leading mortality rate from the pandemic. Similarly, blue-state New York is third in job loss and second in death rate. Job losses are from the difference in how the states handled the restrictions on businesses and school closures.
Furthermore, blue-state governors in California and New York and Michigan have been far more strict about shutting down economic and physical activity than their red-state counterparts in Florida, South Dakota, and Texas. The comparative death tolls are roughly the same (California tracks with Florida, New York with South Dakota, and Michigan with Texas; the economic performances, however, are anything but comparable.” (Trending Politics – Jonathan Davis; May 9, 2021)
So, in exploring metrics that relate to economics, death rates, and liberty scores, red-states that supported Donald Trump consistently and significantly outperformed and fared much better than the blue-states that voted for Biden. Given the indisputable pattern between red-states and blue-states in their governing/political ideology and the respective impact of the pandemic, blue-states have failed miserably in their approach. Americans who love liberty and prosperity cannot afford to forget this pattern and would be well served to vote accordingly in future municipal, state, and federal elections. Fortunately, red-state governors got it right; unfortunately, blue-state governors failed miserably on every count. Red-state residents would be well advised to protect their Republican leaders; blue-states would be well advised to dump their cast of failed and flawed Democrat leaders.
By: Extremely American Colin Wright