The Great Debate - Free College For All

[MSK9]

Is that why Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, South Carolina, Arizona, Georgia, and Mississippi are in the top 10 when it comes to poverty? Oops! Never mind. Those are red states.

Mississippi is an agrarian state with high poverty thanks to a.) being a small agrarian state, b.) largely rural populations, and c.) lack of industry relative to other states.

The fact that it has high poverty has nothing to do with its politics, I assure you. I was born in Mississippi and have lived in Mississippi most of my life. People take advantage of welfare programs in Mississippi just as they do in California, where I've also lived. It's not a red/blue problem. It's a problem with human nature, and the reality is that one of the two major political parties in the United States incentivizes "lean-on-us" -type policies more than the other.