The silent problem- rural poverty is rampant

A couple of quick stories that illustrate the same thing. First of all, here's the nationwide story, an excellent rundown by Bloomberg news regarding increasing rural poverty, and their voting patterns.

Among the 254 counties where food stamp recipients doubled between 2007 and 2011, Republican Mitt Romney won 213 of them in last year’s presidential election, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data compiled by Bloomberg. Kentucky’s Owsley County, which backed Romney with 81 percent of its vote, has the largest proportion of food stamp recipients among those that he carried...

More than half of the Owsley County’s population -- 52 percent -- received food stamps in 2011, the most recent yearly number available. The county, which in 2012 was 97.6 percent non-Hispanic white and had 4,722 residents, had a median household income of $19,344, well below the Kentucky median of $42,248 and the $52,762 figure nationally, U.S. census data shows. Roughly four in 10 residents live below the poverty line.

Hal Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, represents the county and in winning his 16th term last year got 84 percent of its vote. His 5th congressional district in southeast Kentucky has the largest proportion of food stamp recipients among any held by a Republican, the data shows.

That didn’t keep Rogers from voting for a farm bill in June that included cuts of about $2 billion annually from food stamps. That bill failed because it lacked the bipartisan support traditionally necessary for farm bills to pass.

The article goes on to point out that over 70% of the Congressional districts that have the highest amount of food stamp recipients are held by Republicans. Sort of goes against the whole "Dem voters are moochers" thing, doesn't it?

Same holds in Wisconsin, where Wispolitics notes the same pattern holds for high food stamp use in rural areas, and that food stamp usage is up for the state as a whole.

...15 percent of the state's residents got food stamps during the average month in the first half of 2013, right at the national average. But according to the Department of Health Services, June’s total caseload is up 4.7 percent from the previous June. In all, the department reports a caseload of 420,649 assistance groups, such as families, comprised of 861,633 people....

In all, the WisPolitics.com review found 19 of 72 counties with above average FoodShare recipients. This total does not include Marquette County, which at 15.2 percent, was near the state average.

Menominee County, home of many Menominee tribal members and a traditionally poor area of the state, showed a monthly average of 49.9 percent of its residents on FoodShare, the review found. Other rural areas of the state with above average concentrations of food stamp recipients were: Sawyer (21.2 percent), Langlade (20.3 percent), Ashland (20.3 percent) Adams (19.1 percent), Rusk (19 percent), Washburn (18.2 percent), Burnett (17.3 percent), Douglas (17.1 percent), Juneau (16.6 percent) Iron (16.4 percent), Richland (16.2 percent), Barron (16.1 percent), Forest (15.9 percent) and Wood (15.9 percent).

In addition to Milwaukee County, where 30.2 percent of residents—a total of 286,476 people—received FoodShare benefits during the average month, other urban centers with above average food stamp recipient percentages included: Rock County at 19.4 percent, once home to the GM plant and related manufacturing jobs; Kenosha at 18.2 percent; and Racine at 18.1 percent.

So 80% of the top 20 counties in Wisconsin for food stamp recipients are outside of Urbanized areas, including 4 of the top 5. So how did these guys vote in the 2012 recall and presidential elections? Let's break it down.

1. All Dem - 6
2. Obama/ Walker - 7
3. All GOP - 7

Pretty evenly distributed, isn't it? Obama got 13 of these 20 counties, and Walker got 14 of them, showing where either the Dem Party of Wisconsin or the national GOP could make inroads, depending on how things go. Given that Walker and the GOP are the ones looking to demonize FoodShare recipients and others that receive welfare, I would think the Dems should be able to pick up some of the individuals in those counties with high levels of poor people.

Of course, that would be if those people have the failures of trickle-down and austerity brought to their attention, got to the voting booth, and stopped voting for distraction issues like guns or religion. It seems pretty clear what the Dems message needs to be, particularly in light of many GOP and rural areas facing massive cuts and/or property tax increases for their public schools next year. So just f-ing do it!