[wardaddy]

No one is debating that your cities are larger on average and yes that can affect local and even state elections but that does not detract from the fact that whites in the south vote conservative proportionately higher than in the North and that blacks are a higher percentage of our regional population here.

[Classicaliberalconservative]

Without the South, the US would be more liberal....CULTURALLY. But I maintain that the rest of the US would be more prosperous and more free market and less socialist than it is today. Why is that? I submit to you all that Southern states as well as certain Western agriculutural states get more funding per capita from the Feds than any other region in the US and pay less taxes to the Federal government per capita than any other region, especially the blue states of New York and California (although the business flight from CA may change that). In fact the South benefits disproportianately from New Deal and Great Society Programs like TVA and Medicaid since it has a higher poverty rate. Also massive government subsidies due to Southern control of Congressional and Senatorial committees means a channeling of much non residtributive government spending to these areas. Therefore current southern prosperity is more due to government spending and socialism-lite than anything else. Without a South, socialism would have never gone national. The Solid South of the old days and the big cities of the North had one thing in common....political patronage, corruption and machines. That is the heart of big government and the civil service. It was this coalition that pur Roosevelt in office and sponsored the New Deal and the Great Society. Without a South, rural voters and city reformers would have gradually taken control of the North at the expense of political machines, much like what has happened since and the north would be a libertarian paradise more or less. Socially very liberal but conservative on economics. Essentially classical liberalism, which is this nation's true political heritage.

[#3Fan]

No one is debating that your cities are larger on average and yes that can affect local and even state elections but that does not detract from the fact that whites in the south vote conservative proportionately higher than in the North and that blacks are a higher percentage of our regional population here.

Cities wussify people. Since in our states we have a higher percentage of city dweelers, it turns the whole state liberal in elections. There isn't much difference in rural and city between the north and south in voting patterns otherwise. Our main difference is the size of the cities.