As a member of the California National Party, I’m issuing the following challenge to Dewey Phillip Bryant, Governor of the state of Mississippi:
Governor Bryant, in 2014 you signed into law House Bill 49, which requires certain applicants for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) in Mississippi to submit to mandatory drug testing before receiving funds. You said the law would “aid adults who are trapped in a dependency lifestyle so they can better provide for their children.”
Governor Bryant, consider this an intervention. I believe you are in a “dependency lifestyle” of your own. Your state is addicted to the welfare it receives from California by way of the U.S. government. In 2014, Mississippi received more than $3.00 in federal spending for every $1.00 of federal income taxes it paid. In the same year, California paid more federal income taxes than any other state, receiving less than a dollar-for-dollar return. In fact, California currently receives only $.78 in federal spending for every $1.00 of federal income taxes it pays.That means Californians helped pay for the drug tests you imposed on TANF applicants.
Despite California’s generosity, Mississippi has voted opposite California in every national election since 2000. That’s hardly the kind of gratitude we’d expect from a region that prides itself on old fashioned manners. It’s also unpatriotic. After all, taxation without representation was one of the chief grievances that led the U.S. to declare independence from England in 1776.
Therefore, Governor Bryant, I challenge you to submit to a mandatory drug test before Mississippi accepts another penny in subsidies from California. The people of Mississippi should not be governed by politicians who are addicted to welfare and who routinely implement ineffective economic policies. We can only assume such politicians must be high.
Sincerely,
Justin Hibbard
