There may be hope in the south

This is a direct copy of a letter an old prof of mine sent to something called the Sunday Chronicle. As he is from NC originally, there may be others who share his perspective:

What Moral Values?
Recent editorials in the Chronicle have cheered the triumph of moral values in the November Presidential election. Talk is cheap. Georgia and South Carolina boast two of the highest infant mortality rates in the country (8.6 and 8.0 per 1000, respectively), almost double those of northern "blue states" such as Massachusetts and Vermont (5.0 and 5.5 per 1000, respectively). The percent of children living in poverty is now twice as high in Georgia and South Carolina as it is in liberal-leaning Minnesota and Connecticut, and teen birth rates in Georgia and South Carolina are three times those of Vermont and New
Hampshire.* If we have such strong moral values, then why do we have so little to show for it?

*All data from KIDS COUNT 2004