Thanks for the reply, Katie.
As far as the red states taking more than they give, that pretty well describes the federal government over the last decade or so. The imbalance won't last; eventually, nobody will loan money to cover the deficit, and there will likely be a combination of cuts along with forced inflation via printing. The balance of the two is the only real question.
But the level of federal service that's being offered is completely unsustainable. The sooner it's cut down to size, the less cutting is involved. It should have been cut back around 2002-ish or so, but here we are. That we haven't cut back since then is only making the final endgame worse.
Setting the Christian ethic aside - both parties are running the federal finances into the ground. Neither is willing to risk the votes in the next election to do their job and fix things. FWIW, I'm rather anti-federalist in my preferences because states have a more immediate need to account for their actions, and can't get into as deep of a hole.
We can point fingers at the "other" party all night long, but when the sun rises, the system will be broken. The sooner, the less painful. But no matter what, there will be pain.