There’s good news and bad news, as usual.

The good news about Georgia being on this list is that Atlanta, “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Country”, is considered to be the Black Mecca of the state and the south, and the USA for that matter. It takes traveling to other places to find out that that is pretty much highly accurate. The bad news is that Atlanta is notably referred to as a “diamond in a pig’s ass.” That doesn’t say a lot that is good about the rest of the state.

Atlanta is about the only city in the state that is not living in active modern-day slavery, and is nearly the only place in the south-period-that has made as many advancements and budding progress in Black America overall.

It still has its issues with racism, but it’s not as bad as it used to be.

That said, here is the Top 10 List of the Poorest States in America from Business Insider. They are all in the deep south.

10 West Virginia – Poverty Rate 18.5%; Unemployment at 6.3% as of November 2014.

9 South Carolina – Poverty Rate 18.6%; Unemployment at 6.7% as of November 2014.

8 Arizona – Poverty Rate 18.6%; Unemployment at 6.8% as of November 2014.

7 Alabama – Poverty Rate 18.7%; Unemployment at 6.0% as of November 2014.

6 Kentucky – Poverty Rate 18.8%; Unemployment at 6.0% as of November 2014.

5 Washington, DC (not a state). I would guess that Tennessee would take its place if Business Insider wasn’t insistent on using D.C. as a “state” for whatever reason. That said, DC is at a 18.9% poverty rate, with an Unemployment rate of 7.4% as of November 2014.

4 Georgia – Poverty rate 19%; Unemployment at 7.2% as of November 2014.

3 Louisiana – Poverty rate 19.8%; Unemployment at 6.5% as of November 2014.

2 New Mexico – Poverty rate 22%; Unemployment at 6.4% as of November 2014.

1 Mississippi – Poverty rate 24.1%; Unemployment at 7.3% as of November 2014.

The good news: The majority of people in those states (and all others) are not living in poverty.

That said, let’s talk for a minute about the elected representatives of these states and their politics and why they are the poorest of the poor in the land.

• West Virginia

Senate: John “Jay” Rockefeller IV and Joe Manchin III, both Democrats

Representatives: David McKinley, Shelly Capito, and Nick Rahall II, Rahall is the lone Democrat.

• South Carolina

Senate: Lindsay Graham and Tim Scott, both Republicans

Representatives: Marshall “Mark” Sanford, Joe Wilson, Jeff Duncan, Trey Gowdy, Mick Mulvaney, James Clyburn, Tom Rice, all Republicans except for Jim Clyburn.

• Arizona

Senate: John McCain and Jeff Flake, both Republicans

Representatives: Ann Kirkpatrick-D, Ron Barber-D, Raul Grijalva-D, Paul Gosar-R, Matt Salmon-R, David Schweikert-R, Ed Pastor-D, Trent Franks-R, Kyrsten Sinema-D

• Alabama

Senate: Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions, both Republicans.

Representatives: Bradley Byrne, Martha Roby, Mike Rogers, Robert Aderholt, Mo Brooks, Spencer Bachus III, Terri Sewell, all Republican except for Sewell.

• Kentucky

Senate: Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, both Republicans.

Representatives: Ed Whitfield, Brett Guthrie, John Yarmuth, Thomas Massie, Harold Rogers, Garland Barr. All Republican except for Yarmuth.

Washington DC (skip) – not a state.

• Georgia

Senate: Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, both Republicans.

Representatives: Jack Kingston-R, Sanford Bishop-D, Lynn Westmoreland-R, Henry Johnson Jr-D, John Lewis-D, Tom Price-R, Rob Woodall-R, Austin Scott-R, Doug Collins-R, Paul Brown Jr-R, Phil Gingrey-R, John Barrow-D, David Scott-D, and Tom Graves-R.

• Louisiana

Senate: Mary Landrieu, Democrat; David Vitter-Republican.

Representatives: Steve Scalise, Charles Boustany Jr, John Fleming, Vance Mcallister, Bill Cassidy, all Republicans; Cedric Richmond-Democrat.

• New Mexico

Senate: Tom Udall, Martin Heinrich, both Democrats.

Representatives: Michelle Grisham, Steve Pearce, Ben Lujan. Pearce is the lone Republican.

• Mississippi

Senate: Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker, both Republicans.

Representatives: Alan Nunnellee, Greg Harper, Steven Palazzo, all Republicans; Bennie Thompson, Democrat.

***

Seventy percent (70.1 or rd70%) of the electorate in these poorest states are Republicans and 29.8 or ru30% are Democrats. Out of 77, only eight are “African-American” and only two of the eight are African American females; one of the males is an African American Republican.

This tide does not rise and fall with changes in elections, or even with “takeovers” by African American elected officials; it rides with the ONE elected party that has always been in position in these areas for more than 100 years, where things have not gotten much better than they were 150 years ago. Getting the drift?

If the poorest states in the country are mostly run by white males who are 70% affiliated with the Republican Party, what does that say about the way the Republican Party does business when it comes to their housekeeping chores on the Homefront that is their individual states? It comes close enough to the truth that the Southern states have made almost no progress whatsoever with a majority Republican-led white male-ruled electorate in office.

But this is very general and overly-simplistic.

It also does not take into account, as someone else made mention of for my exclusive benefit, that it is possible that many poor people enjoy being in poverty so that they can make a point about how smart they are to find ways to “make something out of nothing”? Makes one wonder why Pharoah took away the Hebrew’s clay and told them to make bricks anyway. Maybe he just wanted to test their skills on brick-making without any resources?

Now, why anyone would make a comment like that with regards to an issue like this is questionable; however, back to the business at hand.

For a better look at why these under-taxed overpaid Republicans are the gamemakers in the poorest states in the nation, let us take a look at the way they do politics in Washington DC.

Then we’re going to see if we can get an even keener fix on why it is their statewide citizenry keeps voting for them, or does not vote at all.

Then we’re going to talk about the welfare-shaming and the scapegoating of the most poverty-stricken Black Americans in these ravaged and mostly Republican-run states who, really, are never ever going to find “gainful employment” because of the way the politics are played.

Next Round.