The Inner Monologue

America runs on a lie we all pretend not to see.

A small group of blue states build the country, fund the country, and stabilize the country—and then get screamed at by a bloc of red states that survive almost entirely by suckling at the federal teat.

Let’s name names.

The States That Actually Pay the Bills

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These states are not perfect—but they are productive.

They generate the income.
They host the ports.
They build the tech.
They power finance, medicine, research, agriculture, logistics, and culture.

They don’t just cover their own costs—they carry everyone else.

California alone sent hundreds of billions more to Washington than it got back. That’s not charity. That’s underwriting the republic.

These states fund:

• disaster relief they don’t receive
• infrastructure they don’t use
• social programs in places that vote to kill those programs

And what do they get in return?

Contempt.

The States Living on the Allowance

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These states take more than they give—sometimes vastly more—and then posture as if they’re the moral backbone of the nation.

They rail against “handouts” while surviving on them.
They sneer at “coastal elites” while cashing their checks.
They preach “self-reliance” while structurally incapable of paying their own way.

This isn’t rugged individualism.
It’s welfare dependency with a Confederate accent.

And the gall—the absolute gall—is that these states demand outsized political power while contributing the least to the system they dominate.

The Trump Test—Applied Honestly

Donald Trump said NATO members who didn’t pay their fair share shouldn’t get protection or respect.

Fine. Apply that rule at home.

If contribution matters abroad, it matters domestically.
If freeloading is weakness overseas, it’s weakness in-state.

You do not get to:

• drain the treasury
• sabotage the revenue base
• insult the donors
• and still demand obedience

That’s not federalism. That’s extortion with a flag pin.

Reality Check

The blue states are not asking for praise.
They’re asking for acknowledgment of reality.

They are the engine.
They are the surplus.
They are the reason this country still functions.

The red states are not villains—but they are dependents, and dependents don’t get to dictate terms to their benefactors.

If America were run like any rational alliance, business, or household, the people paying the bills would have the loudest voice—and the people living off transfers would be told to fix their economies before fixing their mouths.

Until then, let’s drop the pretense.

Some states build America.
Some states feed on it.

And the ones doing the feeding should show a little less arrogance—and a lot more gratitude.