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The majority of Missouri is in the Bible Belt, there is no getting around it. Many people say southern missouri is actually the buckle of the Bible Belt. Look at any denomination maps and Missouri has nothing in common with Midwestern states. The majority of counties are southern baptist.
Those counties also have smaller populations. Missouri as a whole state actually has more Catholic religious adherents than Southern Baptist. And before you question Wikipedia, note that the quotation which mentions this fact is backed up by a solid source.
First off, Kentucky and Tennessee aren't Midland states, they're Southern states. Missouri is one of the 12 Midwestern states...about a quarter of it is in the South, the rest in the Midwest.
Sorry for the ambiguous phrase. When I said "Midland" I was not referring to "Midwest". I meant states that are in the middle interior of the U.S. I understand that KY and TN are southern states. I lived in KY (Paducah area) for 5 yrs before relocating to FL.
Those counties also have smaller populations. Missouri as a whole state actually has more Catholic religious adherents than Southern Baptist. And before you question Wikipedia, note that the quotation which mentions this fact is backed up by a solid source.
That didn't look right to me either. Like you couldn't swing a dead cat in Missouri without hitting a couple of southern baptists and that hasn't been my experience.
Why does EVERY Missouri thread get derailed by the "oh, is Missouri southern or midwestern?" or "is Missouri baptist or catholic? Why? Missouri is Missouri. The United States census calls us a Midwestern state. Most Missouri counties are Baptist, but most major population centers are Catholic (correct me if I'm wrong). Facts are facts.
Now, the OP was asking why is Missouri middle of the pack. Whether or not we argue "its because of the liberals" or "Its because of the Baptists", lets please keep this thread from being derailed into another is MO southern or not. There's already a thread for that.
However, I think the original question is an interesting one.
I don't know if anyone have noticed this but Missouri (MO) has always been in the middle of the pack among 50 states in most categories.
MO hasn't really improve its rankings among all 50 states when it comes to the quality of life, economy, education, and population growth. It remains steady.
Why is MO growing very slowly? Is the state economy still stagnant?
How come people are not attracted to MO compared to other Midwestern states such as Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, & the Dakotas?
Pros of living in MO are low cost of living and low taxes and the roads are improving slowly.
MO has the most lenient alcohol and smoking laws with very low taxes and no smoking ban. Cigarette taxes should be increased to address the issue that MO has one of the highest smoking rates in the country.
about the reasons I get a slight negative feeling re the state--just some quick impressions for me are the following---puppy mills, Lake of the Ozarks,which is fine by the way,backward-ness,isolation,some
poverty,sort of hate to say this"redneck types" lots and lots of guns and gun-totin folks,and it goes all the way back to the civil war and the freestaters--The Missouri Ruffians,which they named themselves, would ride over the Kansas state line,grab a board or 2 and say they had a homestead in Kansas,and that meant they could legally vote here.Then they would vote in favor of slavery,while the majority of Kansans were "freestaters".This was one of the reasons Kansans and Missourians have had nasty things to say about each other-it goes back to pre-civil war days.History lesson for today,,,
Last edited by bev osborn; 08-07-2013 at 11:38 PM..
Reason: left out word
about the reasons I get a slight negative feeling re the state--just some quick impressions for me are the following---puppy mills, Lake of the Ozarks,which is fine by the way,backward-ness,isolation,some
poverty,sort of hate to say this"redneck types" lots and lots of guns and gun-totin folks,and it goes all the way back to the civil war and the freestaters--The Missouri Ruffians,which they named themselves, would ride over the Kansas state line,grab a board or 2 and say they had a homestead in Kansas,and that meant they could legally vote here.Then they would vote in favor of slavery,while the majority of Kansans were "freestaters".This was one of the reasons Kansans and Missourians have had nasty things to say about each other-it goes back to pre-civil war days.History lesson for today,,,
Funny thing is, bev...You could be describing FL with those same words. (Except the Ozarks and the "freestaters", of course.). I think what is keeping MO so "middle of the road" is that it has no real identity to those who don't know much about it. When people from other areas hear "Missouri" they immediately think of either St. Louis or tornados. Unlike the gulf coadt states or the New England area or even Michigan or Illinois, Missouri has no real defining draw.
about the reasons I get a slight negative feeling re the state--just some quick impressions for me are the following---puppy mills, Lake of the Ozarks,which is fine by the way,backward-ness,isolation,some
poverty,sort of hate to say this"redneck types" lots and lots of guns and gun-totin folks,and it goes all the way back to the civil war and the freestaters--The Missouri Ruffians,which they named themselves, would ride over the Kansas state line,grab a board or 2 and say they had a homestead in Kansas,and that meant they could legally vote here.Then they would vote in favor of slavery,while the majority of Kansans were "freestaters".This was one of the reasons Kansans and Missourians have had nasty things to say about each other-it goes back to pre-civil war days.History lesson for today,,,
I disagree. I think that "backwardness" "isolation" "poverty" and "rednecks" is a problem in pretty much all states. Yes, even in the state of Washington. But Washington state usually finishes high up in the polls. Gun-totin and former slave state is something that many other states share, like Georgia and Maryland. For the most part, the poverty and isolation isn't out of the ordinary, so I just don't think this answers the question.
Ohio seems to be similarly average and I think we can draw some comparisons between the two states. Maybe we just have average cities?
I disagree. I think that "backwardness" "isolation" "poverty" and "rednecks" is a problem in pretty much all states. Yes, even in the state of Washington. But Washington state usually finishes high up in the polls. Gun-totin and former slave state is something that many other states share, like Georgia and Maryland. For the most part, the poverty and isolation isn't out of the ordinary, so I just don't think this answers the question.
Ohio seems to be similarly average and I think we can draw some comparisons between the two states. Maybe we just have average cities?
We were just in Michigan for vacation. You get away from the million dollar homes on the shore of Lake Michigan and you see plenty of trailer homes and ramshackle homes. It could have been rural Missouri, or rural Mississippi for that matter.
I don't know of too many midwestern cities or states taking off. Chicago is so big it's an outlier-plus I understand its actually losing people. Minneapolis might be the exception. Are there any midwestern states or even cities taking off right now? And if so, in what respect?
I guess you are right-a lot of peope do think those things
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Originally Posted by dragon0524
Funny thing is, bev...You could be describing FL with those same words. (Except the Ozarks and the "freestaters", of course.). I think what is keeping MO so "middle of the road" is that it has no real identity to those who don't know much about it. When people from other areas hear "Missouri" they immediately think of either St. Louis or tornados. Unlike the gulf coadt states or the New England area or even Michigan or Illinois, Missouri has no real defining draw.
Strange though that I don't--when I think of Mo it's all those things I mentioned for me and this is the picture that pops into my head(due to a book I read about a man shooting his family):
A HUGE GUY WITH A BELT HANGOVER IN A RED PLAID SHIRT,A DIRTY BEARD,BEADY EYES,HOLDING A RIFLE......YEAH I KNOW BUT THANKS TO THIS BOOK I CAN'T HELP IT.....NEVER EVEN THINK OF ST. LOUIS,BECAUSE I HAVE MOSTLY BEEN TO THE RURAL AREAS.THANKS FOR YOUR POST-YOU BRING UP AN INTERESTING POINT---HOWEVER,FOR ME THE LAKE OF THE OZARKS HAS BEEN A REALLY GOOD DRAWING POINT--GORGEOUS IN THE AUTUMN SEASON...TRY IT IN OCTOBER!!!!
I don't know if anyone have noticed this but Missouri (MO) has always been in the middle of the pack among 50 states in most categories.
MO hasn't really improve its rankings among all 50 states when it comes to the quality of life, economy, education, and population growth. It remains steady.
Missouri is in the middle of the pack in most categories as it is literally in the middle of the country, has an average population density, an average size by landmass, doesn't have any extremes of climate, and is not dominated by any one industry, culture, or political group. The middle of the pack is not a bad place to be as the outliers tend to get into trouble when their one thing that they are known for goes bad. You don't want to necessarily be at the top for incomes since it will make housing and goods less affordable like in NY and California. You don't want your economy to be propped up by one industry like Michigan, because when it goes bust, you go bust even though it may have been very good for a while. And so forth.
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Why is MO growing very slowly? Is the state economy still stagnant?
At least MO's economy is growing and they haven't had the widespread municipal bankruptcies and statewide budget panics like in Michigan, Illinois, and California. They may not be booming like North Dakota but North Dakota's boom is due to precisely one thing. There was a reason there were only 300k people and a flat economy in ND before the Bakken formation was tapped. ND will more likely than not return to that when the oil runs out.
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How come people are not attracted to MO compared to other Midwestern states such as Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, & the Dakotas?
MO actually has a fairly steady population growth. It is up 7% from 2000 to 2010 and 0.6% since 2010.
- ND: The reason people are heading to ND is the oil. Period. It's a boom industry and will attract people. That has always been true. The "Forty Niners" ring a bell perhaps?
- South Dakota attracts a few people as it's close enough to ND to benefit a little from the oil money but it also is a low-tax haven that attracts a lot of people from MN. (I know, every other frigging car in Sioux Falls has a Minnesota plate, a damn Vikings sticker, and drives ten under the limit.) It is also a MAJOR immigrant/refugee acceptance site and that has added quite a few people since the early 2000s.
- Indiana has a very similar growth rate as MO: up 6.6% from 2000 to 2010 and 0.8% from 2010 to now.
- Nebraska also has a fairly similar growth rate as MO: up 6.7% from 2000 to 2010 and 1.6% from 2010 to now. However consider that the entire state of NE has roughly the population of the KCMO metro area so it doesn't take a huge influx of people to cause a large percentage change.
- Minnesota isn't a spectacularly fast-growing state either. I know far more people coming from there than going to MN, due to the higher cost of living and taxes compared to surrounding states.
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Pros of living in MO are low cost of living and low taxes and the roads are improving slowly.
You can also add a wide range of topology, relatively few "sin laws," there aren't the worst extremes of weather, relatively few large natural disasters, and the fact that you are rarely more than a couple of hours away from a city of some size if you need to do business or go shopping or whatnot.
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MO has the most lenient alcohol and smoking laws with very low taxes and no smoking ban. Cigarette taxes should be increased to address the issue that MO has one of the highest smoking rates in the country.
Having lenient laws is not a bad thing. It is called "freedom." Why can't a passenger in a car who is not driving drink a beer? They are not driving, there is no problem. It isn't illegal to have a drunk passenger and a sober driver; in fact this is actually encouraged (see the designated driver ad campaigns governments spend millions on every year.) I think the reason there are open container laws is because it makes a cop's job harder because he has to reach all the way to his hip pocket to pull out his PBT and make the driver blow rather than just say "I see beer, I assume the driver drank it, he is guilty until he proves himself innocent." So tell me how having lenient laws that actually respect the Fifth Amendment are bad.
I don't think that having a statewide smoking ban would do anything for MO but make people who live in far-off places and would never live in MO happy. The smoking rate isn't all that different from other states with much higher taxes. Wisconsin has a pretty similar smoking rate as MO despite having a well above average $2.52/pack tax while MO's is 17 cents. Missouri is also far from the worst for smoking rates as well. Ever been to Kentucky by chance? They smoke like chimneys there, smoke everywhere, and they STILL have a higher tax than MO.
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Originally Posted by MoSouthernMan
Well you inject your opinions in every thread that are non relevant and you add about our gun laws and how our state is always a bunch of rubes and such.
He is a Minnesotan from "The Cities." All they do is talk about how great "The Cities," Minnesota in general, and the Vikings are and how much everywhere else just absolutely sucks. But they never go back home to oh so awesome Minnesota despite how ungodly awful it is anywhere else. I know, I currently live amongst way to many of them. I can't wait to move back to MO and be rid of them. Iowa is south to them and south is bad, so they rarely come to Missouri.
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Been there many times and i am puzzled myself
