I Live in a Blue State (of Mind).

I Swim in a Pool of Blood

I live in a state where public officials literally kill their fellow citizens through ignorance, ideology and misplaced piety.

I live in a state badly in need of reconstituted priorities and effective plans of action.

I live in a state that ranks first in the toxicity of coal ash and last in its regulation.

I live in a state where attention is diverted from facts and the wellbeing of citizens.

I live in a state where public officials love to talk about the Ten Commandments even when they don’t know the contents of the list.

I live in a state that followed Arizona by imposing draconian, unconstitutional, anti immigration laws. In Arizona, 13.6% of the population was born outside the United States. I live in a state where 3.5% of the population was born outside of the United States.

I live in a state where officials are more worried that a few illegal immigrants might accidentally receive some sort of public benefit than they are ensuring that needful citizens have help that is available.

I live in a state where the median income is $10,000 below the national median.

I live in a state where the overall poverty rate is 17%.

I live in a state where 26% of children live in poverty.

I live in a state where 33% of the jobs provide low wages.

I live in a state where there is no state minimum wage law.

I live in a state where the entire amount of income growth from 2009-2011 accrued to the top 1%.

I live in state where 10% of the workers have no bank account.

I live in a state where the average payday loan borrower pays $520 interest on a $375 loan.

I live in a state where 30% of students fail to complete high school.

I live in a state where 735 people per 100,000 are imprisoned. Nationally, 506 per 100,000 are imprisoned.

I live in a state where 1 in 32 are under correctional control.

I live in a state where female prisoners trade their bodies for toothpaste and tampons.

I live in a state where inmate abuse is out of control.

I live in a state that ranks sixth in executions.

I live in a state where the state attorney general wants to kill more prisoners faster by reducing the amount of time they have for appeal.

I live in a state where defense of the indigent is so extremely underfunded that justice is nearly impossible to obtain.

I live in a state that receives $1.77 from the federal government for every $1.00 collected in federal taxes.

I live in a state where the governor is worried that the federal government is spending too much money and offers to sacrifice his needful fellow citizens to reduce federal expenditures.

I live in a state where the governor refuses to expand Medicaid availability under the Affordable Care Act.

I live in a state where the governor is a physician.

I live in a state where the governor cares more for impressing distracted voters with misbegotten ideology than in helping low income citizens.

I live in a state where 191,000 citizens will miss the benefits of expanded Medicaid availability. They will have no health insurance.

I live in a state where the governor does not understand that healthy workers are more productive citizens, contributing not only to the improvement of their own lives, but to the tax base, as well.

I live in a state where the governor does not understand the economic benefits—extending into many millions of dollars—generated through expanded employment that would result from extending Medicaid benefits to poor citizens.

I live in a state where the governor does not understand the positive long-term impact that would result from expanding Medicaid benefits to poor citizens.

I live in a state where, contrary to national trends, infant mortality is growing rather than diminishing. Nationally, infant mortality is 6 per thousand live births. I live in a state where infant mortality is 8.9 per thousand live births.

I live in Alabama.

Twitter: @mdMichaelDriver