Reply #66: Oregon is a very non-religious state (perhaps the most non-religious) [View All]

and yet the Republicanites are strong in the rural areas. The reason is that the rural people are basically libertarian: they want the least possible amount of taxes, no environmental laws, no land-use laws, and as far as they're concerned, the schools always have too much money, there should be no regulations on businesses, and those lazy mentally ill people should just get jobs.

They like programs to build prisons, but since the Libertarian party allows prisons as a government function, that's not inconsistent.

Yet these same people have also voted for assisted suicide, decrimininalization of marijuana, and medical marijuana.

The only definitely Republican thing (as opposed to possibly libertarian) they've done is vote against gay rights, but that's probably because of the macho-macho tradition of the ranchers, lumberjacks, and fishermen who dominate the rural areas.