We Can All Live In Alabama?

I don't know much about Alabama other than it in the south. For some that is enough to turn the other cheek. Being from the south, I am always interested in what the other southern states have going on. This article about Alabama definitely peaked my interest.

Matt Osborne, I'm assuming, lives in the south, possibly in the very state he's discussing. In his article he expresses his opinion of the Republican Party saying: "The Republican Party has a proposal...blame the president, stay depressed...and forget to vote on November 2nd." What he's saying is that if the Tea Party Republicans get control they will turn the entire country into Alabama.

Osborne turns this into a threat by discussing Alabama's economical standing. He explains that Alabama is the most tax regressive (meaning the poor pay the most and the wealthy pay the least taxes) and poorest state and provides numerous links to PDF records straight from the United States government. One claim he makes is that Alabama is becoming, or already is, part of America's third world. It sounds offensive to say out right, yes, but Osborne provides the facts. One link sends you to a list of states listed from the lowest to the highest poverty rates in the United States. Alabama is the 5th from the bottom, with District of Colombia taking last place.

His basic argument appears to be that if we sit back, don't vote, and let the Republicans run the show we will end up broke with dumb kids, like Alabama. In the Alabamian economy the school's depend on the revenue from sales tax so when the economies in the toilet so are the schools. Though the best part about education in Alabama has got to be the warning stickers about Evolution in biology textbooks, that is just my opinion.

Osborne feels that it's Republicans goal to keep the people poor and ignorant so their idea of government can thrive. It's not that far fetched, according to his article, that's what the Alabama government has been doing over 100 years. By keeping property taxes low they attract manufacturing jobs, whose money goes to the wealthy, who don't pay many taxes, therefore no money goes towards fixing schools, in turn producing more poorly educated citizens. Ultimately, I think Osborne is afraid that Americans will let what is happening to Alabama spread to the rest of the country. He's using this as a scare tactic to get us to vote for any other candidate than the Republican. All in all, it worked on me; hopefully it will work on many, many more.