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MEANWHILE, IN SODOM. Joe Klein made an interesting observation a few days ago while writing about the concern for the poor both Sam Brownback and Mike Huckabee express:
Then again, the Republicans are fielding a motley crew right now: if you count Newt Gingrich, who'll probably join the fray in the fall, the four leading candidates have had nine marriages among them: Giuliani three, Gingrich three, McCain two and Romney one. The Republican faithful are left with a devil of a choice: moderate candidates who live like liberals, or religious conservatives who talk like liberals.Presumably it is Brownback and Huckabee who speak like liberals and the rest of the lot who live like liberals.Which brings me back to the liberal Sodom, Massachusetts. The very name of this state can be used as a secret swearword in presidential speeches these days, because it stands for all things liberal and corrupt and Hollywood-tainted. Thus, if we look for the oft-divorcing liberals we must find them in Massachusetts, right? Not quite:
The 2003 figures are instructive. In that year the Massachusetts divorce rate was 5.7 divorces per 1,000 married people. Comparable figures for Kentucky, Mississippi and Arkansas were 10.8, 11.1 and 12.7 respectively.If I were a politician I'd take the opportunity to proudly proclaim that liberalism is the glue that keeps marriages whole. Sadly, it isn't quite that simple, as the states I mentioned also have very different education and income levels and different ages at first marriage -- all factors which are known to affect the likelihood of divorce. But it is important to note that religiousness doesn't appear to be a marriage glue, either. Born-again Christians, for example, divorce at about the same rate as atheists.--J.Goodrich
