# Which state is the most messed up? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 12, 2008, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-is-the-most-messed-up/476931 "2008-12-12T20:31:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-is-the-most-messed-up/476931/1 "2008-12-12T20:31:11Z")
(This is a sister thread to the one asking for which state has its act the most together. All positive comment should go there) Which of the 50 states in America is just the most overall messed up? I mean things like the state that is most corrupt, has a bad education system, is in debt, had unrepaired streets and bridges, etc etc All states have spots of beauty and some great aspects, but which one is just simply the most unorganized and badly run? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-is-the-most-messed-up/476931/2 "2008-12-12T20:34:46Z")
> [@autz](#): > > I mean things like the state that is most corrupt, has a bad education system, is in debt, had unrepaired streets and bridges, etc etc My home state of Louisiana is an obvious contender based on the above criteria but the fact that it has New Orleans itself and a rather unique culture disqualifies it in my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Airblairxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Airblairxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airblairxxx)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-is-the-most-messed-up/476931/3 "2008-12-12T21:09:04Z")
California. It’s looking at a budget deficit of [$41.8 billion dollars by 2010.](http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-budget11-2008dec11,0,4280427.story) By way of comparison, it’s expecting to bring in $86 billion in revenues next year. It has a stupid process of ballot propositions, which basically makes the state ungovernable. For example, it requires a 2/3 majority of the legislature to pass the annual budget. This means that no budget is passed until long after it is due. There’s also a 2/3 majority requirement to raise any taxes. Which means that taxes will never be raised. And Republicans use this tyranny of the minority to insist on balancing the budget solely through deep spending cuts. [QUOTE=LATimes] To erase the deficit with spending cuts alone, (nonpartisan legislature budget analyst Mac) Taylor said, would require the elimination of all funding for state universities, welfare, developmental services, mental health and in-home supportive services. That’s one example. Or you could release all the prisoners. That would help. Not even Republicans are going to vote for any of that. [/QUOTE] Source: [Los Angeles Times](http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cap11-2008dec11,0,4941409.column) For some reason, Californians like to blame the legislature for this state of affairs. When it’s our own fucking fault. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-is-the-most-messed-up/476931/4 "2008-12-12T21:22:40Z")
IMHO, you start in MS and work your way out. AL, LA, TN, GA, AK, etc. End up with OR and WA. (AK and HI I guess must be edens by this rule!) CA has budget stupidity that will start causing huge problems soon, but for the moment they still have functioning schools, road system, prisons, etc. There was an article recently listing states by corruption and GA scored quite low. But the criteria was _convictions_. GA has the weakest corruption laws and no enforcement of those. So guess why the number of convictions is low. Stupid, stupid, list. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-is-the-most-messed-up/476931/5 "2008-12-12T21:34:22Z")
Kansas, because we have Fred Phelps. Top that! ---
**Author:** ![shallora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@shallora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shallora)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-is-the-most-messed-up/476931/6 "2008-12-12T21:35:13Z")
Louisiana. Hands down. No debate needed. ---
**Author:** ![bannerrefugee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c68b51/32.png) [@bannerrefugee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bannerrefugee)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-is-the-most-messed-up/476931/7 "2008-12-12T22:14:22Z")
Texas We gave you George Bush and our current gov is Rick Perry ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-is-the-most-messed-up/476931/8 "2008-12-12T22:21:50Z")
Gotta say good old Cali. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-is-the-most-messed-up/476931/9 "2008-12-12T22:58:20Z")
Illinois deserves a nomination: Chicago Politics is notorious and many of the recent governors have had scandals. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-is-the-most-messed-up/476931/10 "2008-12-12T23:00:36Z")
Well Illinois seems to have some challenges with corruption I hear… > **[Illinois scandal: Corruption as usual](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/3710804/Illinois-scandal-Corruption-as-usual.html)** > > On November 4, Chicago was the platform from which Barack Obama, on the night of his election victory, delivered an inspiring message of hope. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-is-the-most-messed-up/476931/11 "2008-12-12T23:10:41Z")
Tennessee. They have a 5.5% sales tax on _groceries_. Nothing says “Fuck the poor” like taxing their food. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-is-the-most-messed-up/476931/12 "2008-12-12T23:46:42Z")
Only Florida has its own Fark tag. And we only just now stopped taxing groceries. When I was a kid I thought everybody did. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-is-the-most-messed-up/476931/13 "2008-12-13T00:06:13Z")
> [@black\_rabbit](#): > > Tennessee. They have a 5.5% sales tax on _groceries_. > > Nothing says “Fuck the poor” like taxing their food. There are sales tax states that don’t tax groceries? Well, I’ll be. I just checked [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_taxes_in_the_United_States), and they claim CT doesn’t charge sales tax on unprepared food. Maybe I only buy prepared food at the grocery store, because I’ve never noticed this before. I guess I should read the receipt instead of just shoving it into my pocket. ---
**Author:** ![XJETGIRLX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9fc29f/32.png) [@XJETGIRLX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XJETGIRLX)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-is-the-most-messed-up/476931/14 "2008-12-13T00:16:24Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Only Florida has its own Fark tag. > > And we only just now stopped taxing groceries. When I was a kid I thought everybody did. This. And for your further consideration, I submit the following: > **[Crazy Florida! (@crazyflorida) on Tumblr](https://crazyflorida.tumblr.com/)** > > Everything you need to know about the Sunshine Batshit Crazy State. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-is-the-most-messed-up/476931/15 "2008-12-13T00:24:13Z")
Give it six months and it’ll be Michigan – hands down. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-is-the-most-messed-up/476931/16 "2008-12-13T00:51:06Z")
Utah is the reddest state in the union; I’m not talking about the rocks. We have polygamous communities. Some asshole from here personally donated a million dollars to stop gay marriage in California. There’s an employer in Salt Lake that got sued for _waterboarding_ one of his employees. The list goes on… ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-is-the-most-messed-up/476931/17 "2008-12-13T04:19:21Z")
> [@shallora](#): > > Louisiana. > > Hands down. > > No debate needed. Now I challenge that! While it is a contender, we have some good points. Not the least is two great ways of cooking crawfish. 🙂 Louisiana has a lot of problems, but there are at least parts of the state that are well-run. I live in St. Tammany and local Government does well now and did well all things considered after Katrina. [like the parish president asked around to learn of things to be careful of during recovery and quickly heard about FEMA. He appointed an accounting staff from almost the time the winds died down to keep track of the paperwork. So now while all the other Jurisdictions are crying poverty and saying they can’t pay after the audits, we have receipts! It literally made millions of $ of difference] So there are definitely good places and good things happening here. Lots of problems and we aren’t anywhere near the top. But not the bottom either. At least from where I sit. And even New Orleans voted out icebox Jefferson. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-is-the-most-messed-up/476931/18 "2008-12-13T04:52:34Z")
Arizona might also be a contender. Horrible governors such as [Fife Symington](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fife_Symington_III) and [Evan Mecham](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Mecham) [Joe Arapaio](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Arapaio) John McCain is actually better than [John Kyl](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kyl) You really don’t want to mention speed cameras or red light cameras to anyone who lives here. Still, there are so many good things about the state. I’m sure most people in Chicago don’t wake up in the morning thinking about how corrupt the politics are. ---
**Author:** ![Simmerdown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simmerdown/32/14859_2.png) [@Simmerdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simmerdown)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-is-the-most-messed-up/476931/19 "2008-12-13T05:23:14Z")
I’m surprised that most replies are not Illinois in light of the events of the last week. I feel a real embarrassment after all this Blagojevich nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-is-the-most-messed-up/476931/20 "2008-12-13T05:24:20Z")
WV taxes groceries big time, 6% I think. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-is-the-most-messed-up/476931.md?page=2)