Theres a third-world America that no one notices

[Hortensis]

11. Not out of sight in traditionally red states.

This is an old CDC diagram, but I chose it for its clarifying message. The continental poverty divide The message is geographic, but there's also an extremely strong and obvious correlation of poverty with conservative populations and politics.

And, of course, there is an equally strong correlation of less poverty, dramatically less, with liberal populations and politicians, and their belief that government should be used to promote wellbeing. Everyone's. Progressivism as action, not just a label.

JonLPwr, in gross terms all that blue correlates with long-term liberal progressive patterns that I suggest add up to further proof of "caring."

(Btw, climate extremes tend to make cultures MORE conservative. Problems such as disease (think deep south) make cultures MORE conservative. Poverty itself tends to make cultures MORE conservative. Regional and cultural development crippled by a heritage of slavery and poverty makes cultures MORE conservative. Lots of syndromes go into intractable poverty, but conservatism in voters and politicians is a huge factor in the intractable poverty in traditionally conservative parts of our nation.)