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player ready...Not to worry, citizens of Margaritaville. Your red state welfare benefits are on the way.
OK, I know, there’s no such thing as red state welfare benefits. Not technically. Though recent events are reminding some of us blue state taxpayers about who really pays and who gets what when it comes to the distribution of federal tax dollars.
Sure, Southern conservatives like to moan about us tax-and-spend Yankees and our corrupt political machines, our too-powerful public employee unions and our inner cities full of unemployed folks who live off the generosity of our government. They may even believe it. But the actual numbers have long told a different story. The last time the Northeast-Midwest Institute checked, Southern states like Mississippi, Florida, Texas and Alabama were collecting the most “per capita net flow of funds from the federal government.” New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Illinois are at the bottom of that list along with other “donor” states that get the least back in return for the federal taxes they send to Washington, D.C.
There are many, many reasons for this long-standing disparity. There’s the flight of retirees and their Social Security checks to warmer climes. There’s the heavy concentration of military bases across the South. Some credit the congressional seniority system for the latter phenomenon, but, in truth, it is more efficient to maintain warships in Norfolk, Va., than in Boston. Or at least it was.
The Navy is now scrambling to come up with a plan to deal with chronic and worsening tidal flooding that, unless mitigated, threatens to render the world’s largest naval base all but inoperable in a decade or two.
All of which brings me, albeit belatedly, to the topic of this column: the National Flood Insurance Program.
This is the ultimate red state welfare benefit in that policyholders tend to be upscale property owners in seaside communities down South that generally swing Republican. Especially GOP strongholds in Texas and Florida, now reeling in the aftermath of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. I realize it’s bad form to just now begrudge aid to fellow Americans whose homes have been flooded, whose lives have been turned upside down, who are at this moment mucking out homes in the hot, soggy dark, perhaps trying to salvage wedding pictures or family heirlooms. So, I won’t do that. What’s more, my PayPal offering has been sent to the American Red Cross.
But ladies and gentlemen of the tropical South, please understand going forward that we are all in this together; that our problems, both North and South, are mutual problems; that they won’t be solved by blaming others while excusing ourselves.
So yes, I expect enough Rust Belt Democrats in Congress will vote for billions in needed hurricane relief, enough to offset “no” votes by tea party Republicans who think people should solve their own problems. Enough Yankees also will vote to extend and refinance the National Flood Insurance Program. They’ll do this even though NFIP was due to expire at the end of the month and even though it is $25 billion in the red following payouts for hurricanes Sandy and Katrina. They’ll do this even though your lowland communities have refused to ban residential construction in flood-prone areas or to stiffen flood-resistant building codes.
Maybe now, after Harvey and Irma, you’ll get around to making those needed changes. Maybe now, after a caring nation again steps up to help, you’ll stop electing politicians who claim that global warming, with its rising sea levels and more intense storms, is some sort of hoax.
And one more thing: You’re going to need a lot of help removing all those fallen trees and replacing mold-ridden drywall. Who’s going to do all that? You know who.
Better slow down on the “Build the wall!” nonsense. This Yankee is sorry for your troubles and wishes you a speedy recovery. After all, we’re all in this together, or should be.
John McCarron teaches, consults and writes on urban affairs.
Twitter @McCarronJohn