MEG KREIKEMEIER writes in the Chicago Tribune: “One of the outcomes of the 2004 election was a change in Democrats’ rhetoric about Republicans. . . . For so long, Democrats have criticized Republicans as the party of the rich, and they still do when discussing tax cuts, budget deficits and Social Security. However, Republicans have now become the party of dishonest slackers who don’t contribute to the federal government and yet make demands of it.”

UPDATE: Reader Barry Johnson emails:

She effectively outlines facts about government revenues to completely discredit Larry O’Donnell’s theory that blue states may secede because they are subsidizing red states.

But the other side of the equation is the government’s spending patterns. Since Social Security is the highest federal expenditure, and Medicare is the third largest, it only makes sense that the feds spend more where there are more retirees. Can the red states help it if the Americans who have enjoyed our country the longest choose to retire in Florida, Arizona, and other red states?

It’s true that not that many people retire to Massachusetts.