In an article from The Journal of the American Medical Association, “In the past decade, the growing polarization of ‘red’ and ‘blue’ states has further widened the divide on policies ranging from Medicaid expansion and abortion to education, immigration, redistricting, unions, and criminal justice. Conservative governors increasingly use preemption, the authority to override local governments, to block liberal health policies (eg, indoor smoking bans). States have preempted local regulations on nutrition (eg, menu labeling, food deserts) and, as of 2013, 45 states had enacted statutes to limit local firearm regulations. The COVID-19 pandemic removed any doubt that state policies can affect health outcomes. East Coast states (eg, New York, New Jersey) that responded to the first wave of the pandemic in the spring of 2020 with strict protective measures achieved relatively quick control of community spread within as much as 8 weeks, and they blunted subsequent surges by reinstating those policies. In contrast, states that had spent decades opposing public health provisions were among the most resistant to COVID-19 guidelines and took active measures to resist restrictions. Some elected officials made a political issue out of challenging scientific evidence, embracing dubious theories, and labeling public health safeguards as infringements on personal freedom. Conservative governors used preemption to reverse efforts by mayors and school districts to control local transmission rates.”
In short and not surprising in the least, red states are killing their citizens, and even less incredible is that these red-state residents really don’t care. By almost every conceivable measure related to health, wealth, freedom, equality, and so forth, blue states are better for their citizenry than red states. Still, RepubliKKKlans, MAGA morons, evil evangelicals, and QAnon kooks don’t care because of FREEDOM! I could not agree more; they should have the FREEDOM! to die quickly and often. The only problem is they are not dying in sufficiently large numbers to impact elections. RepubliKKKlans seem to be surviving enough to out-vote Democrats. Welcome to stupid America!