An observer dissuades discussion by subtly changing the subject.

Readership: All
Length: 600 words
Reading Time: 3 minutes

The Hot Topic

There has been some talk about the United States splitting up, either formally or informally, into independent or autonomous regions respectively.  If we are to accept this as a real possibility, then we begin to question the economic consequences of such a move. But obviously, there are certain people who do not want this particular discussion to continue.

Case Study

For example, under a Reddit post [2], Repli3rd left this comment.

“Maybe the US should split.“

LOL.  She does realise the vast majority of American wealth that funds the enormous military budget is generated in “democratic states” (with a couple of exceptions)????

The most dependant states (federal assistance)  (bottom ten all republican controlled, bottom 25 all republican except Oregon 25, New York 24, Vermont 22 – 1 = most dependant).

Richest states (medium household income) (bottom 10 all republican controlled, bottom 25 all republican except for Maine 35 – 1 = wealthiest).

The most hawkish Republicans are usually from relatively poor US states and they can often afford to have rather outlandish policy positions because all they have to say is they’re anti-abortion and love Jesus and guns to get elected (contrasted with the Mitt Romney types who actually have to think about their policy platform a little more).

Note how the anti-erudite spells “dependent”, yet she carries the opinion that the “God, guns, and glory” folks are simple, indigent deplorables. She also spells realize with an s (British English), which indicates that she is not from the U.S.A.

Anyway, Democrats / Liberals were quick to jump on this, plastering it all over social media.

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Is it even True?

Why are Democrats / Liberals so excited about this issue?  I had to check it out.

The links to WalletHub were blocked, so I started hunting for this information elsewhere.

  1. Smart Asset: States Most Dependent on the Federal Government 2020
  2. DC City Biz List: 2020s most and least federally dependent states (WalletHub study)
  3. Towards Data Science (Bryan Maloney): American states, the Federal government, and dependency (2020/6/19)

The last study by Maloney digs deeper into the data and has a more comprehensive report. It shows that essentially, the Democrats’ claim is a concocted, categorical lie via statistical manipulation, and shrouded by the complexity of the underlying causes.  (Click on the link to read more.) The Democrat’s excitement over this is due to selection bias. Therefore, declaring Republican economics insolvent is an appealing distraction.

Click Bait: Do Republican or Democratic economics attract or foment poverty?

Those who have spread this fake news and instigated this fervor are only stirring up dissention based on partisan politics, most likely to serve as a distraction from the real issues. In the above example, Repli3rd brought up this talking point in response to the suggestion that the U.S. should break up, thereby tamping down the discussion on this idea. This is an intellectually dishonest tactic, namely changing the subject, and protest-too-much.

In other words, TPTB are just toying with us, as if we were gullible, easily provoked kids.

“Oh no! We mustn’t let them get into THAT! Quick! Give them some distracting statistical candy!”

“Let the rabble eat abstract economic theories to keep them out of trouble!”

Don’t be fooled by interesting, but ultimately useless and time wasting distractions!

Sources

  1. Taiwan News (Sophia Yang): Taiwan stands out by favoring Trump, survey shows (2020/10/17)
  2. Article (1) was shared on Reddit: Trump’s Approval Rating in Taiwan is Higher Than in the Country Where He is President (2020/10/17).  It was later deleted by the moderator.

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