# 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:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ice\_Cream\_Conquest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e480ec/32.png) [@Ice\_Cream\_Conquest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Cream_Conquest)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-is-the-most-messed-up/476931/41 "2008-12-15T04:45:58Z")
> [@chacoguy420](#): > > Utah is the reddest state in the union; I’m not talking about the rocks. Sorry, Republican does not necessarily equal corrupt. > [@](#): > > We have polygamous communities. True, but the Attorney General is continuously working on prosecuting those that marry underage girls. > [@](#): > > 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. Neither of which have anything to do with how the state itself is run. > [@](#): > > The list goes on… You’re going to have to come up with a lot better if you want to put Utah on THIS list. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-is-the-most-messed-up/476931/42 "2008-12-15T07:14:13Z")
I think if you go by objective measures like quality of school systems, percentage of children graduating high school, high poverty rates, high rate of violent crime (and non-violent, too), **Mississippi** pretty much always comes in at the bottom. (Louisiana has dropped below them in some rankings now, but they haven’t recovered from the Hurricane yet.) Mississippi has historically – for at least 50-75 years – failed to invest in any of the systems that would improve the common good – things like education, public health, roads, utilities, etc. Almost like a deliberate attempt to stay the worst! Presumably, those in charge benefit from it being the way it is. I would disagree with the nomination of Illinois for political corruption because despite the corruption, the state basically works pretty well. Despite the Chicago political machine, the city does get water through the pipes, the traffic signals work, the streets get plowed – they messed that up one year, and the head of the city political machine was dumped by the voters and replaced with a non-machine woman candidate. For most of the people, such corruption doesn’t affect their basic lives. And listing California, just because they face a budget deficit? Heck, a lot of states are facing one now, after 8 years of the Bush economy. I think per capita, we face a worse deficit here in Minnesota than California does. California’s deficit looks big, but remember, California is bigger than 2/3rd of the countries of the world. ---
**Author:** ![Vox\_Imperatoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-is-the-most-messed-up/476931/43 "2008-12-15T08:08:20Z")
Yes, the Alabama state motto: “Thank God for Mississippi!” I actually think that Alabama (at least the urban part) is a pretty good place to live. The car companies are actually doing well here, too. It is kind of funny having so many German people around in the middle of Alabama (and you can instantly spot them at a distance, too, like I assume European do to Americans). Valete, Vox Imperatoris ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-is-the-most-messed-up/476931/44 "2008-12-15T10:42:14Z")
> [@black\_rabbit](#): > > Tennessee. They have a 5.5% sales tax on _groceries_. > > Nothing says “Fuck the poor” like taxing their food. I can top that. Kansas is fairly well run, but we do have a sales tax, on everything, of 7.45%. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-is-the-most-messed-up/476931/45 "2008-12-15T14:44:09Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > I think if you go by objective measures like quality of school systems, percentage of children graduating high school, high poverty rates, high rate of violent crime (and non-violent, too), **Mississippi** pretty much always comes in at the bottom. (Louisiana has dropped below them in some rankings now, but they haven’t recovered from the Hurricane yet.) Did you read post # 39? MS is #38, not #50, in roads. Not to mention that we are _also_ recovering still from Hurricane Katrina. If you’re giving LA a pass for that , do we not get one too? I just sent in a response to an RFQ for City of Biloxi - they are repaving 100 miles of streets, replacing 320,000 feet of storm drain, etc. etc. All from Katrina damage. > [@](#): > > I would disagree with the nomination of Illinois for political corruption Upthread there is a link to a NYT story on corruption, which shows convicted officials per capita. I disagree a little bit with that analysis - shouldn’t it be convicted officials per number of officials? - but in that article, MS is #7. Six states are worse, in other words. Perhaps it would be better to have a list of objective measures, then see how each state ranked, rather than just spouting off the traditional response. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-state-is-the-most-messed-up/476931.md?page=2)