Turning the Red States Into Poor, Sickly Paradises

In 2004, the journalist and historian Thomas Frank wrote an insightful and prescient book, â??Whatâ??s the Matter With Kansas?", in which he tried to puzzle out why voters in his native state backed Republicans whose policies undermined their own economic interests. Watching the apocalyptic response to Donald Trump's victory in the liberal precincts I inhabit, Iâ??m struck by a similar quandary: Why are voters in states that pay a disproportionately large share of federal taxes, and benefit from a disproportionately small share of federal spending, so upset about the prospect of a cut in taxes and federal spending?