> Sure, and yet somehow they are consistently voting in people who want to dismantle both. I think they vote Republican mostly because of social wedge issues (

> Sure, and yet somehow they are consistently voting in people who want to dismantle both. I think they vote Republican mostly because of social wedge issues (and to a lesser extent, the appeal of tax cuts and associated propaganda). I come from a farm state. They used to elect a lot of Democrats to federal office, until relatively recently. Remember Tom Daschle? I'm personally convinced that a party that's credibly socially conservative but fiscally liberal would clean up in those states.