Monday, July 11, 2005

The "party of the aspiring"




Rich Republicans?
Not yet. The red states are still number two, and working hard for a living.


By Jerry Bowyer, National Reviews BuzzCharts




The GOP, the party the Libs constantly accuse of being the party of the rich, nasty corporate CEO who trods over the working man at every opportunity, apparently has a cosmetic makeup considerably different than portrayed.

I can't begin to tell you how many debates and arguments to which I've been engaged on this issue. How can anyone with a straight face ignore the big money makers of lawyers and medical professionals, both with large proportions of liberal members.

At last... something I have always suspected as true is finally substantiated by some facts. Most of us who trend conservative aren't CEOs, nor wealthy. But we sure have ambitions. And Mr. Bowyer's phrasing, "the party of the aspiring", is a mantle tinged with a stroke of genius. It is a phrase the RNC should consider adopting as their own permanently, with Mr. Bowyer's blessings, of course.

The BuzzCharts below tell the real story... But I encourage you to go to the link above and read it all en-toto yourself.

States with the highest per capita income trend Democrat; the states with the lowest per capita income trend Republican. The top ten “blue states,” for example, had an average per capita personal income of $36,327, which is 20 percent higher than the top ten “red states,” which had an average of $30,275.

Northeastern states, which make up the geographical heart of liberalism, are considerably wealthier than the upstart Sunbelt states, and that’s just by the measure of personal income. The Northeast states also boast many more generations of accumulated financial capital than their Sunbelt cousins. In other words, income statements and balance sheets in the Northeast states reveal much richer populations.




As the above chart shows, although the blue states are still considerably wealthier than the red states, the red states are currently trending upwards at a faster rate. Per capita personal income for the first quarter of 2005 jumped 1.05 percent for the red states, which is more than three times the 0.29 percent increase for their blue-state counterparts.

This pattern also shows up in more finely honed geographic measures. Ninety-seven of the 100 fastest-growing counties in America went GOP last year. These counties tend to be highly aspirational ex-urbs — areas that lie outside central cities and outside inner-ring suburbs. Your BuzzCharts author lives in such a community: Lots of land, lots of growth, lots of small business owners. Ex-urbians generally don’t come from wealth. In fact, they’re immune to class guilt because they didn’t inherit their wealth. More than the “aspiring class,” this is the “perspiring class.” After all, these people sweat to get where they’re going.

These are the new Republicans who handed the White House to George W. Bush.




Bravo Jerry! Well said, and stellar research!

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