I don't claim the split is hard edged and absolute but it's very real. As an example, the majority (or plurality, it varies) of peace time military recruits have always been rural. Why? Because rural areas tend to be more traditionally patriotic, because employment opportunities are often limited, because the tax base is usually small (fewer social programs), and because the great religious revivals of the 19th century and the early part of this one were a mostly rural phenominon and have largely maintained their rural base. The border state economies are more closely concerned with other countries and thus aware of what they're like. Tesas is an exception because the Mexican economy isn't really that strong. Not like the Pacific Rim of Europe. One could also claim that a larger number of rural citizens are naive or unsophisticated, more susecptible to skillful manipulation. This may be changing. Remember,too, that rural areas are, almost by definition, focused on agriculture; which our government does not support very well in the case of small farmers.

Rapaire: The LDS are a special case. The few Mormons I've known who were willing to discuss their religion tell me that the classic LDS social mechanisms don't work well in areas where they are not a clear majority. Here, for example, Mormons are forced to live both "in the world" and "of the world". All the Mormons I know personally think of themselves as Jack Mormons (not quite real Mormons). None of them feel too guilty about drinking "hot drinks", sub-standard tithing, failure to be concerned about what's conducive to faith, or minor church pronouncements. This isn't true of all of them, naturally, but it must vitiate the mandatory Mormon respect for authority. I note also that few of them wear "garments" of maintain the required food stocks.