Rational Thinking - It's Not Just For Breakfast Any More

[chris_gerrib]

Yesterday I had some fun with the latest SFWA controversy. Today via Jay Lake I see this article: Welfare State: Washington's Republican counties depend on Western Washington's money. How can they survive the state budget cuts they demand?

The gist of the article is that the deeply-Republican counties of Washington state are heavily-subsidized by the tax dollars flowing from the Democratic cities. This is not unique to Washington state - most rural counties in most states are subsidized by cities. Nor is it unique that these very counties decry "government spending" and "socialism."

How are these two thoughts linked? Rational thinking, or the lack thereof. In SFWA's case, the petitioners claim a First Amendment right to hijack an association's trade journal for purposes not amenable to the majority of members. In Washington state, rural Republicans demand budget cuts that somehow won't hurt them. It's magical thinking, not rational thinking.

Comments

[daveon.livejournal.com]

It is one of the amusing things here. Eastern Washington is hysterical when it comes to this stuff. They live, largely at the largess of King County, and by King County I mean Seattle, but they have a really destructive side.

They're working hard to get bus routes and public transport in Seattle shut down because in Ellensburg they don't use our buses, and quietly ignore that they wouldn't be able to live in Ellensburg without us and our buses...

We're seeing the same nonsense in Bellevue where a local landowner has been trying to stop dirty, commie trains from displacing good, American, Republican cars from driving to his shopping centers...