Those states have better graduation rates, better paying jobs, and lower divorce rates, too.

Liars will figure.

____________________________

"winkin' at my peers," quotin' Thurston.

Children voting like their parents certainly explains how we went from 64 Senate Democrats in the 1966 election to where we are today.

I wonder what percentage of the birthrate in the 26 Bush states is Hispanic.
 

Brian A.
I'd rather be cycling.

Maybe "liberals" are more cognizant of the ongoing overpopulation problem.

In the end it doesn't matter how many liberals and conservatives are in the "potential" pool of voters. If you can increase the turnout of liberals you can win. The slippery slope is no liberal candidates = no liberal voters = no liberal winners = low liberal interest in politics = no liberal candidates... Chatter among liberal political junkies does not win elections. If you run hypothetical numbers a slightly above average liberal turnout can overcome a larger pool of conservatives who turn out in average numbers. Why vote?

Human overpopulation is the reason our planet is headed toward catastrophe...But here's a vignette for you:

We have raised two boys well, as opposed to more badly. We are progressives married for 22 years.

On a recent bus trip with a soccer team we chatted with the driver who was a large, ok fat, man who turned out to have had three wives and six children, most of whom he had no ongoing contact with. He also turned out to be a rabid conservative...and dented the bus several times on the trip.

No moral judgement implied, just observing, but I do like the Kurt Vonnegut quote

" Look, we after two World Wars and the holocaust and the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and after the Roman games and after the Spanish Inquisition and after burning witches, the public-- shouldn't we call it off? I mean, we are a disease and should be ashamed of ourselves.

And so, yeah, I think we ought to stop reproducing. But since we're not going to do that, I think the planet's immune system is trying to get rid of us. "

"Shorter" (ahem) Les:  "Republicans have bigger balls, longer d*cks, and a hell of a lot more testosterone than liberals, the sickly wienies of society.  And we drive our Hummers to prove it.  By God."

_________________________________

Never has the left been so right.

So, no one is concerned that Democrats seem to be a smaller and smaller part of the population?

True, it wouldn't surprise me if many Democrats had more money and more education - having kids curtails some educational opportunities, and it costs a lot of money to raise kids. Two counterpoints. As the article quoted above notes, even when corrected for education and income level, Dems are having fewer kids. Two, how much money you get to keep and how many degrees you get to accumulate isn't the point. The point is that if this trend continues the Dems are going to have a hard time controlling the White House or Congress. (And isn't saying "If you don't have kids you get to have more money and a nicer retirement home?" shallowly materialistic? I thought Republicans were the materialistic bastards.)

And doesn't this trend help explain a lot of differences between Dems and Repubs? If Repubs are more likely to be raising children, that would explain their different perspectives on social programs, national defense, taxes, and a host of other issues.

I don't think the Democrats are going the way of the Shakers, but these trends look very bad for Democrats.

Hey, Les, why don't we just call each other assholes and get it over with. - Somebody on the old Southknoxbubba.net (if that was you, claim your quote and win net.fame!)

Les, here's the central fallacy in that piece:

Given that about 80% of people with an identifiable party preference grow up to vote the same way as their parents, this gap translates into lots more little Republicans than little Democrats to vote in future elections.

No, I don't think this is a "given." If you start from a flawed assumption, everything that follows is flawed. Where does this 80% number come from? Is Brooks saying that 80% of the population are unthinking sheep who simply do what Mommy & Daddy did, without ever thinking for themselves and forming their own opinions?

God help us all if that's true.

If that assumption were in fact true, then the South would never have switched so monumentally from solidly Democratic to solidly Republican over the last 40 years. The very success of the GOP's "Southern Strategy" proves Brooks to be full of it. People's opinions can actually be swayed, regardless of family habit.

There is certainly an epidemic of stupid in this country right now, but I don't think it has much to do with blindly following family tradition.

--Socialist With A Gold Card

"I'm a socialist with a gold card. I firmly believe we need a revolution; I'm just concerned that I won't be able to get good moisturizer afterwards." --Brett Butler

Back off and let those men who want to marry men, marry men.

Allow those women who want to marry women, marry women.

Allow those folks who want to abort their babies, abort their babies.

In three generations, there will be no Democrats!!!

I love it when a plan comes together!