Liberal vs. conservative governments, which one actually works better?

In this years Republican primaries many have been surprised by Mitt Romney's failure to connect with Republican voters. Many reasons have been proposed to explain this disconnect, but my favorite is that Mitt Romney, the former governor Massachusetts, is too moderate to appeal to conservatives. After all, how could a real conservative ever have been elected governor of a bastion of liberal ideology like the state of Massachusetts? There is probably a lot of truth in this concept and it would might have been better for Romney if he had been the governor of a very conservative state like my home state, Tennessee.

Tennessee versus Massachusetts, a Southern state and a Northern state. A conservative state and a liberal state. It is pretty easy to see why many conservatives would prefer a candidate from a state like Tennessee to a state like Massachusetts, but in making this comparison we are faced with a question. Which state's government does a better job? Conservatives are practical people who are interested in results, so does Tennessee perform better than a state with high taxes, legally recognized gay marriage, and a health care system which was the basis for President Obama's health care reforms like Massachusetts? Let's take a look and see.

Social conservatives will point to same sex marriage as evidence that liberals do not support traditional family values and do not value the traditional family structure. So why then do only 31% of children in Massachusetts live in single family homes when 37% of children live in single family homes in Tennessee? Why does Tennessee have the 8th highest divorce rate in the US while Massachusetts has the lowest divorce rate in the country? Obviously the traditional family is doing better in a liberal state that supports gay marriage than it is in a state that has tried to make it illegal to even say the word gay in public schools.

Massachusetts - 1, Tennessee - 0

What about education? There are very few issues that rank higher for most voters and conservatives have strong beliefs about this issue. Here in Tennessee the government has put limitations on what can and can't be taught in public schools. The government has stripped teachers of their collective bargaining rights, and looked at increasing class sizes while reducing teacher pay. Surely this has produced a more efficient, better performing public education system? Well no. According to Education Week Magazine in their annual ranking of public school systems Massachusetts has the 3rd best performing public schools in the nation. Tennessee? This shining example of conservatism ranks 23rd.

Massachusetts - 2, Tennessee - 0

Surely though, Tennessee must have a system that encourages hard work and personal responsibility to a greater extent than the cradle to grave, oppressive, socialist strong hold of Massachusetts. If so then why are 19.9% of Tennesseans on food stamps while only 12.2% of Massachusettsians receiving this form of government assistance? Why are only 10.1% of the people in Massachusetts living in poverty while 15% of Tennesseans find themselves in poverty? Could this relate to the fact that the unemployment rate in Massachusetts is only 6.9% while it is 8.5% in Tennessee? Could it be that, even with a strong social safety net and a high tax rate, that people in Massachusetts still want to work hard and succeed? Conservatives will say tell you that a high tax rate will keep people from wanting to work hard and that social programs will give them an excuse not to, but Massachusetts has the 5th largest number of millionaires per capita in the nation while Tennessee ranks 44th.

Massachusetts - 3, Tennessee - 0

When all of this evidence is out there and easy to find why is that so many people still believe that conservative policies will succeed and liberal policies will fail? Simple, conservative policies do work, but only for a small group of people. That small group of people also tends to be the group of people who set government policy and the political tone for our country. They are amazingly intelligent people who have managed to whitewash the facts and pull the wool over the eyes of many Americans. Their success does not equate to your success and your pain and inability to live the American dream isn't one of their concerns.

Think about it for a minute, do you want live in a state with rampant poverty, where fewer people achieve financial success, where a single accident or illness can lead to your economic destruction, where children seem to be considered an annoyance instead of the hope for our future? If so then Tennessee is the place for you. Sure the taxes in Tennessee are lower than in Massachusetts, but that just means it is harder for the state to do what it should to make it possible for as many people to succeed as possible. Is Tennessee a shining example of conservative values or is it a stain on the American dream? Maybe it is time to get out the detergent so that we can clean the dirty greed out of Tennessee. The numbers don't lie, so we shouldn't lie to ourselves. Conservatism is a failed ideology that is bad for our country, let's reject radical conservatism and embrace the success that can come from hard work when we allow success to be an option for everyone instead of just a few.