I don't know what it is with people in this part of the country, this entire southwest region here. Most of the electorate just seems to eat crazy fed straight to them with a spoon, even when all the logic in the world is staring them right in the face.
Had a conversation with another driver when I first started here at Papa Johns about taxes; it went like this-
Me: "Man, I can't believe how high our taxes are in this state. I pay more income tax in Oklahoma than I ever did in Michigan, and our sales tax is twice as high, but the roads suck, we're 49th in education, and our social programs stink. If I'm going to pay this much in taxes, I'd like to see something done with it."
Him: "Yeah, it's all those fucking people living on welfare and collecting unemployment, they think, he's working so I shouldn't have to work."
Me: "You know, I could understand that argument normally, but this state hardly pays out anything in social programs, my wife gets social security and her case worker couldn't qualify for food stamps or any kind of income assistance despite being a single mother making 900 dollars a month from her job."
Him: "Yeah, I know what you mean, I had this guy I worked with for a while who got laid off, and 90 days after being laid off he still didn't have a job, and there's no excuse for that, I mean I'm paying, blah blah, obama etc"
Paraphrasing, but not exaggerating - I'm serious, he just blew through everything I was saying to rant off the party line about how welfare is stealing from taxpayer pockets. In some parts of Oklahoma, we pay a 12% sales tax, our only good roads in the entire state are our turnpikes (which were supposed to cease being toll roads 8 years ago when they finished paying for themselves, but that never ended up getting done) which we pay a ridiculous amount to use, and income and property taxes are ridiculous, and yet we have nothing here. In a state where reasonable, sane people lived, people would be demanding accountability, people would want to know where the fuck all of this money was going. It's a southwest thing, I guess. The only thing more important than religion here is whether or not we're going to run out them damn mexicans. Expect crazy from us.