Red States vs Blue State and Having Children

Was chatting with my Phillip the Wise (he can quote Gollum in Polish; it doesn't get wiser than that) and he was wondering why rural areas of the country and world tend to have more children than in urban places. I expained that out on the farm, another kid is another pair of hands to get some work done. It you live in a place where you must walk three miles every day for water, then extra legs means more water, whereas in a city, all children do is cost money; from a strictly economic standpoint, having a kid is the worst financial decision we could ever make, short of actually setting money on fire. Phil then wondered why areas with a tendancy toward more children tend to be more conservative. I pondered that for a while, and think I may have come upon a (possible) connection based on my (limited) parenting experience.

As of 05.25.05 (my daughters birthday) I had a pretty god handle on the world. I knew, for the most part, which things were hurtful and dangerous and which things were good and healthy. This is not to say I was the be all end all when it comes to morality and safety, but my wife and I were comfortable in the world at large and had spent much of the pervious nine months talking about how to explain that world to Sydney.

The problem is, the world keeps changing. All this new stuff is coming down the pipe: new drugs, new technology, new research, new dangers, new pleasures, etc. And I suddenly find myself in the position of having to evaluate all these new things not in terms of weather or not they're good for me, but weather or not they're good for my family. Right now, it's not so hard because Syd is still a baby, and unable to think about this stuff for herself, but that will change very quickly. She will start walking and talking and appprehending the world in a manner completely her own. As she grows older and becomes more and more independent, it will be harder and harder for me to make sure she's judging The New in a way that is healthy and right.

If you think back to the last election and the genisis of Red State vs. Blue State (an aside: I despise this term. It is divisive and jingo-istic.) the blue states/areas tended to be closer to large urban centers and red states/areas tended to be more rural. Here is a county by county map to refresh your memory. (Although I prefer the Purple America map as it shows how much more united the country is. It also demonstrates my point, but it's a little harder to tell.)

It seems that areas that have a tradition or necesscity of larger families also have, at least recently, a tradition of political conservitivism as well. I think this effect applies globally as well. If you look at urban, industrialized countries (Great Britain, France) versus more rural countries (Saudi Arabia, Iran) the urban countries trend towards a political liberalism, while the other countries trend conservitive.

I wonder is anyone more learned than I has ever said anything on the subject?