Irregular Books

Reason #993 from the upcoming book, 2008 Reasons to Elect a Progressive President, has to do with the 2004 slam of “Massachusetts liberal”:

Remember what the Republicans called John Kerry? They called him a “Massachusetts Liberal” - as if that’s a bad thing. Massachusetts liberals have a great deal to be proud of, actually.

Consider, for example, the status of poverty in Massachusetts. There is poverty in Massachusetts, as there is in every state in the USA. However, in Massachusetts, the poverty rate is lower than the national average. Nationally, the poverty rate is 13.3 percent. In Massachusetts, however, the poverty rate is only 10.3 percent.

The management of child welfare in Massachusetts has been even more of a success. As is the case in every state, child welfare in Massachusetts is higher than the general poverty rate. However, in Massachusetts, the child poverty rate is even further below the national average than the general poverty level - just 13.6 percent. That’s half of the child poverty rate in some Republican-voting red states.

It’s time for America to listen to the wisdom of Massachusetts liberals, instead of following the clumsy bravado of red state economics.”