NP: Stevie Wonder, At The Close Of A Century

David Brooks argues that the exurban exodus is about people who actively want to raise larger families and seek out an affordable way to do so. I don't know if it's my own bias, but it sounds a lot like he's trying to rationalize these numbers, which show teenage birth rates for the much ballyhooed "red" and "blue" states.

I have to wonder if it's a desire to start families or a byproduct of teen pregnancies. If you factor in some earlier and slightly more dubious numbers showing average IQ by state that came out after the election, the case gets stronger, but again, I'm a little skeptical. And I think the case might hold up anyway. Even moreso if you factor in strong pro-life rhetoric in the exurbs, which I'm going to assume given the rest of the demographic.

Which means that the pro-life message seems to be getting across better than the abstinence "education" programs, which then have the dual ignominies of being both wrong and ineffective.