The South, the North East, or California?

[Evangelical]

Regional worldviews shape political parties and politics in the US.

I think it is impossible for the US to escape regionalism, it can look past it in general consensus, or progress on some political issue, but it cannot escape it. Either Southerners, Northerners, Westerners, etc., are shaping US grand strategy, domestic and foreign, at any given time.

So the question is, which region do you think will dominate the next 40 years? The last 30 years have been an interlude since what is called the "American Consensus" (which was rule over America by the North East), and this last 30 years has been aptly named "The End of the American Consensus".

So what new Consensus will form? I think it will be a southern one, a more conservative, more Christian worldview.

I think the Yankee nation is in decline.

I think the Californians are largely on the run, they couldn't even get gay marriage passed. California is a likely contender to regional power in the United States, California is to the North East what Carthage is to Phoenicia.

But, California is scheduled to lose 2 electoral seats through congressional reapportionment and conservative Southern states and mountain states are likely to pick up the change. The Yankee states are losing 1 each, 5 of them, including New York and New England states. Most of those states will likely lose a liberal seat in the reapportionment.

I think the southern cultural engine of southern brand Christianity is also the only effective force of "colonization" left in the Union, the liberal indoctrination camps (Universities) don't seem to be very widespread at spreading culture, nor is liberal migration, since most liberal migration is to the south where generation after generation the south absorbs and assimilates new comers.

The new consensus will form around the South, I do believe. And most likely centered on Texas.

 

[Evangelical]

Also, Proposition 11 has allowed a more "equal" redistricting to begin 2011, meaning Democrats (currently 2/3rds of both houses) will now have to rely upon a solidarity of Republicans' approval to allow assembly and senate apportionment so this will probably weaken the Democratic hold on the state.

 

[editec]

I think it rather sad that you imagine you nation works in the way you're told it work, to be honest.

Southerner are NOT the enemy of Northerners.

Believe me, we don't sit around damning the folks in the south.

We don't see the world in that parochial way you do, lad.

We see America as one nation INDIVISIBLE.

We know that American AND AMERICANS rise or fall together.

The sooner you Southern boys realize this, the sooner we can get on with making this nation one that our FATHERS (Northern adn Southern and Western and Mid Western, too) understood perfectly.

Divide and conquer -- the number one way the masters dominate the peasants. Always has been and always will. They know how to play on our petty conceits.

And the tools of the masters never seem to get that.

The tools actually think: Someday, if I will just stab enough of my neighbors in the back, the Massa will recognize I'm one of them and invite me to live inside the plantation.

Idiots.

 

[WillowTree]

I think it rather sad that you imagine you nation works in the way you're told it work, to be honest.

Southerner are NOT the enemy of Northerners.

Believe me, we don't sit around damning the folks in the south.

We don't see the world in that parochial way you do, lad.

We see America as one nation INDIVISIBLE.

We know that American AND AMERICANS rise or fall together.

The sooner you Southern boys realize this, the sooner we can get on with making this nation one that our FATHERS (Northern adn Southern and Western and Mid Western, too) understood perfectly.

Divide and conquer -- the number one way the masters dominate the peasants. Always has been and always will. They know how to play on our petty conceits.

And the tools of the masters never seem to get that.

The tools actually think: Someday, if I will just stab enough of my neighbors in the back, the Massa will recognize I'm one of them and invite me to live inside the plantation.

Idiots.

where the hell have you been? you see sealybobo bashing the south daily,, you come in and ask him to cool it? NO, I don't think o.

 

[editec]

I think it rather sad that you imagine you nation works in the way you're told it work, to be honest.

Southerner are NOT the enemy of Northerners.

Believe me, we don't sit around damning the folks in the south.

We don't see the world in that parochial way you do, lad.

We see America as one nation INDIVISIBLE.

We know that American AND AMERICANS rise or fall together.

The sooner you Southern boys realize this, the sooner we can get on with making this nation one that our FATHERS (Northern adn Southern and Western and Mid Western, too) understood perfectly.

Divide and conquer -- the number one way the masters dominate the peasants. Always has been and always will. They know how to play on our petty conceits.

And the tools of the masters never seem to get that.

The tools actually think: Someday, if I will just stab enough of my neighbors in the back, the Massa will recognize I'm one of them and invite me to live inside the plantation.

Idiots.

where the hell have you been? you see sealybobo bashing the south daily,, you come in and ask him to cool it? NO, I don't think o.

Sealy is not representative of the left. He is more of a Democrat than a leftist.

He is still working through some of his own personal problems which make him angry at the wrong people, just as so many of you are who claim to be conservtives but who are really tools of the kleptocrcy which runs BOTH parties.

Jews aren't the enemy, Southerns are not the enemy, gun owers not the enemy, welfare mothers, not the enemy liberals not, conservatives not...feel free to pick out ANY of the scapegoat classes the masters of propaganda create to keep our eyes off the prize.

The problem is the KLEPTOCRATS who control the government and the media, both parties, most corporations which do business with state and local goverments, most well funded foundations and one hell of a LOT of so called think tanks where all they do is THINK about ways of obfuscating the TRUTH in ways that will appeal to the various prjudices that most of us have.

 

[Bullypulpit]

I think it rather sad that you imagine you nation works in the way you're told it work, to be honest.

Southerner are NOT the enemy of Northerners.

Believe me, we don't sit around damning the folks in the south.

We don't see the world in that parochial way you do, lad.

We see America as one nation INDIVISIBLE.

We know that American AND AMERICANS rise or fall together.

The sooner you Southern boys realize this, the sooner we can get on with making this nation one that our FATHERS (Northern adn Southern and Western and Mid Western, too) understood perfectly.

Divide and conquer -- the number one way the masters dominate the peasants. Always has been and always will. They know how to play on our petty conceits.

And the tools of the masters never seem to get that.

The tools actually think: Someday, if I will just stab enough of my neighbors in the back, the Massa will recognize I'm one of them and invite me to live inside the plantation.

Idiots.

where the hell have you been? you see sealybobo bashing the south daily,, you come in and ask him to cool it? NO, I don't think o.

"...Bashing the South daily...", where, pray tell, did you get this peculiar notion? And please, do provide links to any sources to support your assertion.

Editec is correct in saying that the GOP strategy is, and has been since Reagan, has been to divide and conquer by picking what is non-issue like abortion or same gender marriage and fanning the fears and insecurities of the illiterati base by using them as wedge issues. Governance by fear wears thin after a while though...just like "Chicken Little". And when the sky doesn't fall these doom-sayers are revealed for the poltroons and charlatans they are. This is why the GOP is sliding from irrelevance to circus side-show status with such rapidity.

 

[WillowTree]

I think it rather sad that you imagine you nation works in the way you're told it work, to be honest.

Southerner are NOT the enemy of Northerners.

Believe me, we don't sit around damning the folks in the south.

We don't see the world in that parochial way you do, lad.

We see America as one nation INDIVISIBLE.

We know that American AND AMERICANS rise or fall together.

The sooner you Southern boys realize this, the sooner we can get on with making this nation one that our FATHERS (Northern adn Southern and Western and Mid Western, too) understood perfectly.

Divide and conquer -- the number one way the masters dominate the peasants. Always has been and always will. They know how to play on our petty conceits.

And the tools of the masters never seem to get that.

The tools actually think: Someday, if I will just stab enough of my neighbors in the back, the Massa will recognize I'm one of them and invite me to live inside the plantation.

Idiots.

where the hell have you been? you see sealybobo bashing the south daily,, you come in and ask him to cool it? NO, I don't think o.

"...Bashing the South daily...", where, pray tell, did you get this peculiar notion? And please, do provide links to any sources to support your assertion.

Editec is correct in saying that the GOP strategy is, and has been since Reagan, has been to divide and conquer by picking what is non-issue like abortion or same gender marriage and fanning the fears and insecurities of the illiterati base by using them as wedge issues. Governance by fear wears thin after a while though...just like "Chicken Little". And when the sky doesn't fall these doom-sayers are revealed for the poltroons and charlatans they are. This is why the GOP is sliding from irrelevance to circus side-show status with such rapidity.

Search is your friend. Start in the Flame Zone!

 

[ItsFairmont]

I live in the South, and I don't see a lot of Northern Bashing. Occasionally I see a Confederate flag (usually in the poorest areas) and sometimes I see a bumpersticker that says, "we don't care how you do it up there."

But I don't hear a lot of Yankee bashing, particularly because half the metro Atlanta area is now made of people from the North, and 60% of the city of Atlanta is African American, and they don't hate the North.


The problem is polarization. People want to be devoted to a political party no matter what that party says or does.


And, unfortunately, the reality of the South is that white Southerners switched to the Republican Party after the Democratic Congress and Democratic President passed the Civil Rights Act. People may deny it, but it's true.


But the good news is that Southerners are not nearly as racist as they used to be, and the election of a black president is going to literally break the backs of racist thinking.


The KKK is dead. It will never rise again.


That said, the South is a spectacularly beautiful place and is extremely affordable compared to the rest of the nation.

I'm a Westerner (CA), but am happy to live in the South. And, frankly, the South often has more common sense about business than the rest of the country. The Northeast and the West is over-regulated. Some of those regulations are good, but some are out of control.

 

[Indiana Oracle]

I think it rather sad that you imagine you nation works in the way you're told it work, to be honest.

Southerner are NOT the enemy of Northerners.

Believe me, we don't sit around damning the folks in the south.

We don't see the world in that parochial way you do, lad.

We see America as one nation INDIVISIBLE.

We know that American AND AMERICANS rise or fall together.

The sooner you Southern boys realize this, the sooner we can get on with making this nation one that our FATHERS (Northern adn Southern and Western and Mid Western, too) understood perfectly.

Divide and conquer -- the number one way the masters dominate the peasants. Always has been and always will. They know how to play on our petty conceits.

And the tools of the masters never seem to get that.

The tools actually think: Someday, if I will just stab enough of my neighbors in the back, the Massa will recognize I'm one of them and invite me to live inside the plantation.

Idiots.

where the hell have you been? you see sealybobo bashing the south daily,, you come in and ask him to cool it? NO, I don't think o.

"...Bashing the South daily...", where, pray tell, did you get this peculiar notion? And please, do provide links to any sources to support your assertion.

Editec is correct in saying that the GOP strategy is, and has been since Reagan, has been to divide and conquer by picking what is non-issue like abortion or same gender marriage and fanning the fears and insecurities of the illiterati base by using them as wedge issues. Governance by fear wears thin after a while though...just like "Chicken Little". And when the sky doesn't fall these doom-sayers are revealed for the poltroons and charlatans they are. This is why the GOP is sliding from irrelevance to circus side-show status with such rapidity.

BP --
Not sure I agree with demonizing the GOP for the social divisiveness that we have seen since the 60s. The GOP in my experience is clever in countering initiatives of the left, but by nature they do not endorse dividing the country into camps. In fact I think there is ample evidence that this proclivity has been instrumental in their being overtaken (for now) by the left messaging machine.

 

[Fregretu]

I think it rather sad that you imagine you nation works in the way you're told it work, to be honest.

Southerner are NOT the enemy of Northerners.

Believe me, we don't sit around damning the folks in the south.

We don't see the world in that parochial way you do, lad.

We see America as one nation INDIVISIBLE.

We know that American AND AMERICANS rise or fall together.

The sooner you Southern boys realize this, the sooner we can get on with making this nation one that our FATHERS (Northern adn Southern and Western and Mid Western, too) understood perfectly.

Divide and conquer -- the number one way the masters dominate the peasants. Always has been and always will. They know how to play on our petty conceits.

And the tools of the masters never seem to get that.

The tools actually think: Someday, if I will just stab enough of my neighbors in the back, the Massa will recognize I'm one of them and invite me to live inside the plantation.

Idiots.

Culturally, we divide ourselves into geographical regions. Take the bible belt for instance. People alike tend to gravitate together. It is a way to preserve one's culture. It does not make us enemies. I stay away from California for that same reason.

When a states changes form red to blue, IMO, it is not the constituents changing their beliefs, rather people with different opinions migrating to that region.

OP - your analysis, although true, is outdated. As time progresses, It gets harder to find a native Texan in Texas.

 

[Gunny]

I think it rather sad that you imagine you nation works in the way you're told it work, to be honest.

Southerner are NOT the enemy of Northerners.

Believe me, we don't sit around damning the folks in the south.

We don't see the world in that parochial way you do, lad.

We see America as one nation INDIVISIBLE.

We know that American AND AMERICANS rise or fall together.

The sooner you Southern boys realize this, the sooner we can get on with making this nation one that our FATHERS (Northern adn Southern and Western and Mid Western, too) understood perfectly.

Divide and conquer -- the number one way the masters dominate the peasants. Always has been and always will. They know how to play on our petty conceits.

And the tools of the masters never seem to get that.

The tools actually think: Someday, if I will just stab enough of my neighbors in the back, the Massa will recognize I'm one of them and invite me to live inside the plantation.

Idiots.

Backatcha. Believe it not, us dumb ol' Southern boys aren't sitting around here giving a damn what you yankees think.

If you think there are not regional division in this country, you just aren't looking. To ignore them is to ignore reality. That's not saying it has to be a problem, but the hatemongers on ALL sides -- yours included -- look for any difference to stir up a bunch of crap.

Look at this thread. Look at the threads in the Flame Zone on secession. Look at what one sentence uttered by one politician playing to a crowd has been turned into, and the vast majority of attacks are NOT coming from the South. These threads are not expressions of nonexistent beliefs and/or emotions.

You're right about one thing ... the political process in this country thrives on division. And hate. And misinformation if not outright lies. One member of this board is so scared that people actually gathered to protest against something she believes in she pretty-much scattergunned absolute lies all over this board.

 

[Gunny]

I think it rather sad that you imagine you nation works in the way you're told it work, to be honest.

Southerner are NOT the enemy of Northerners.

Believe me, we don't sit around damning the folks in the south.

We don't see the world in that parochial way you do, lad.

We see America as one nation INDIVISIBLE.

We know that American AND AMERICANS rise or fall together.

The sooner you Southern boys realize this, the sooner we can get on with making this nation one that our FATHERS (Northern adn Southern and Western and Mid Western, too) understood perfectly.

Divide and conquer -- the number one way the masters dominate the peasants. Always has been and always will. They know how to play on our petty conceits.

And the tools of the masters never seem to get that.

The tools actually think: Someday, if I will just stab enough of my neighbors in the back, the Massa will recognize I'm one of them and invite me to live inside the plantation.

Idiots.

where the hell have you been? you see sealybobo bashing the south daily,, you come in and ask him to cool it? NO, I don't think o.

"...Bashing the South daily...", where, pray tell, did you get this peculiar notion? And please, do provide links to any sources to support your assertion.

Editec is correct in saying that the GOP strategy is, and has been since Reagan, has been to divide and conquer by picking what is non-issue like abortion or same gender marriage and fanning the fears and insecurities of the illiterati base by using them as wedge issues. Governance by fear wears thin after a while though...just like "Chicken Little". And when the sky doesn't fall these doom-sayers are revealed for the poltroons and charlatans they are. This is why the GOP is sliding from irrelevance to circus side-show status with such rapidity.

The Democratic party operates on the same prinicple fearmongering the SAME non-issues. Pot calling the kettle black.

 

[Harry Dresden]

Editec is correct in saying that the GOP strategy is, and has been since Reagan, has been to divide and conquer by picking what is non-issue like abortion or same gender marriage and fanning the fears and insecurities of the illiterati base by using them as wedge issues. Governance by fear wears thin after a while though...just like "Chicken Little". And when the sky doesn't fall these doom-sayers are revealed for the poltroons and charlatans they are. This is why the GOP is sliding from irrelevance to circus side-show status with such rapidity.

and you dont think the Dems use that strategy?.....another one with his head up the lefts ass....

 

[KittenKoder]

Editec is correct in saying that the GOP strategy is, and has been since Reagan, has been to divide and conquer by picking what is non-issue like abortion or same gender marriage and fanning the fears and insecurities of the illiterati base by using them as wedge issues. Governance by fear wears thin after a while though...just like "Chicken Little". And when the sky doesn't fall these doom-sayers are revealed for the poltroons and charlatans they are. This is why the GOP is sliding from irrelevance to circus side-show status with such rapidity.

and you dont think the Dems use that strategy?.....another one with his head up the lefts ass....

Naw ... the current Dems wouldn't do such a thing with environmentalism ... shock jocks ... especially not with bail outs! No way!

 

[Bullypulpit]

I live in the South, and I don't see a lot of Northern Bashing. Occasionally I see a Confederate flag (usually in the poorest areas) and sometimes I see a bumpersticker that says, "we don't care how you do it up there."

But I don't hear a lot of Yankee bashing, particularly because half the metro Atlanta area is now made of people from the North, and 60% of the city of Atlanta is African American, and they don't hate the North.


The problem is polarization. People want to be devoted to a political party no matter what that party says or does.


And, unfortunately, the reality of the South is that white Southerners switched to the Republican Party after the Democratic Congress and Democratic President passed the Civil Rights Act. People may deny it, but it's true.


But the good news is that Southerners are not nearly as racist as they used to be, and the election of a black president is going to literally break the backs of racist thinking.


The KKK is dead. It will never rise again.


That said, the South is a spectacularly beautiful place and is extremely affordable compared to the rest of the nation.

I'm a Westerner (CA), but am happy to live in the South. And, frankly, the South often has more common sense about business than the rest of the country. The Northeast and the West is over-regulated. Some of those regulations are good, but some are out of control.

While I agree with most of what you say in this post, I think you're being overly optimistic, if not naive, in thinking the KKK is dead. As long as they have somthing to latch onto to stoke their fears an insecurities they, and others of their ilk, will do so.

 

[Bullypulpit]

where the hell have you been? you see sealybobo bashing the south daily,, you come in and ask him to cool it? NO, I don't think o.

"...Bashing the South daily...", where, pray tell, did you get this peculiar notion? And please, do provide links to any sources to support your assertion.

Editec is correct in saying that the GOP strategy is, and has been since Reagan, has been to divide and conquer by picking what is non-issue like abortion or same gender marriage and fanning the fears and insecurities of the illiterati base by using them as wedge issues. Governance by fear wears thin after a while though...just like "Chicken Little". And when the sky doesn't fall these doom-sayers are revealed for the poltroons and charlatans they are. This is why the GOP is sliding from irrelevance to circus side-show status with such rapidity.

The Democratic party operates on the same prinicple fearmongering the SAME non-issues. Pot calling the kettle black.

Abortion and gay rights...? Haven't seen the Dems whipping anyone into a frenzy over those non-issues.

 

[KittenKoder]

I live in the South, and I don't see a lot of Northern Bashing. Occasionally I see a Confederate flag (usually in the poorest areas) and sometimes I see a bumpersticker that says, "we don't care how you do it up there."

But I don't hear a lot of Yankee bashing, particularly because half the metro Atlanta area is now made of people from the North, and 60% of the city of Atlanta is African American, and they don't hate the North.


The problem is polarization. People want to be devoted to a political party no matter what that party says or does.


And, unfortunately, the reality of the South is that white Southerners switched to the Republican Party after the Democratic Congress and Democratic President passed the Civil Rights Act. People may deny it, but it's true.


But the good news is that Southerners are not nearly as racist as they used to be, and the election of a black president is going to literally break the backs of racist thinking.


The KKK is dead. It will never rise again.


That said, the South is a spectacularly beautiful place and is extremely affordable compared to the rest of the nation.

I'm a Westerner (CA), but am happy to live in the South. And, frankly, the South often has more common sense about business than the rest of the country. The Northeast and the West is over-regulated. Some of those regulations are good, but some are out of control.

While I agree with most of what you say in this post, I think you're being overly optimistic, if not naive, in thinking the KKK is dead. As long as they have somthing to latch onto to stoke their fears an insecurities they, and others of their ilk, will do so.

Gotta agree, some of it's roosting in Idaho.

 

[Peejay]

I live in the South, and I don't see a lot of Northern Bashing. Occasionally I see a Confederate flag (usually in the poorest areas) and sometimes I see a bumpersticker that says, "we don't care how you do it up there."

But I don't hear a lot of Yankee bashing, particularly because half the metro Atlanta area is now made of people from the North, and 60% of the city of Atlanta is African American, and they don't hate the North.


The problem is polarization. People want to be devoted to a political party no matter what that party says or does.


And, unfortunately, the reality of the South is that white Southerners switched to the Republican Party after the Democratic Congress and Democratic President passed the Civil Rights Act. People may deny it, but it's true.


But the good news is that Southerners are not nearly as racist as they used to be, and the election of a black president is going to literally break the backs of racist thinking.


The KKK is dead. It will never rise again.


That said, the South is a spectacularly beautiful place and is extremely affordable compared to the rest of the nation.

I'm a Westerner (CA), but am happy to live in the South. And, frankly, the South often has more common sense about business than the rest of the country. The Northeast and the West is over-regulated. Some of those regulations are good, but some are out of control.

While I agree with most of what you say in this post, I think you're being overly optimistic, if not naive, in thinking the KKK is dead. As long as they have somthing to latch onto to stoke their fears an insecurities they, and others of their ilk, will do so.

The Klan itself is all but dead. However, the number of other white supremicist groups has been on the rise for years.

As far as the south goes, it's about as balanced as anywhere. The red block continues to shrink. Carter, Clinton and even a northern, black democrat pulled southern states. And sooner or later, the white trash will figure out who sends their food stamps out to the trailer park. The fundies have nearly completed their campaign to control the republicans, driving moderates out. Someone said that the left had taken part of the party? Better wake up....no one took them. The whackos drove out the moderates. But this time around, it's not the fringe being dismissed, it's the fringe dismissing the rest, driving the party right while the rest of the country moderates.

The south will play an important part in the future but it isn't what the OP has in mind. Those are the values the south is slowly, but surely, leaving behind.

 

[Peejay]

I live in the South, and I don't see a lot of Northern Bashing. Occasionally I see a Confederate flag (usually in the poorest areas) and sometimes I see a bumpersticker that says, "we don't care how you do it up there."

But I don't hear a lot of Yankee bashing, particularly because half the metro Atlanta area is now made of people from the North, and 60% of the city of Atlanta is African American, and they don't hate the North.


The problem is polarization. People want to be devoted to a political party no matter what that party says or does.


And, unfortunately, the reality of the South is that white Southerners switched to the Republican Party after the Democratic Congress and Democratic President passed the Civil Rights Act. People may deny it, but it's true.


But the good news is that Southerners are not nearly as racist as they used to be, and the election of a black president is going to literally break the backs of racist thinking.


The KKK is dead. It will never rise again.


That said, the South is a spectacularly beautiful place and is extremely affordable compared to the rest of the nation.

I'm a Westerner (CA), but am happy to live in the South. And, frankly, the South often has more common sense about business than the rest of the country. The Northeast and the West is over-regulated. Some of those regulations are good, but some are out of control.

While I agree with most of what you say in this post, I think you're being overly optimistic, if not naive, in thinking the KKK is dead. As long as they have somthing to latch onto to stoke their fears an insecurities they, and others of their ilk, will do so.

Gotta agree, some of it's roosting in Idaho.

Bingo.

 

[DiveCon]

I live in the South, and I don't see a lot of Northern Bashing. Occasionally I see a Confederate flag (usually in the poorest areas) and sometimes I see a bumpersticker that says, "we don't care how you do it up there."

But I don't hear a lot of Yankee bashing, particularly because half the metro Atlanta area is now made of people from the North, and 60% of the city of Atlanta is African American, and they don't hate the North.


The problem is polarization. People want to be devoted to a political party no matter what that party says or does.


And, unfortunately, the reality of the South is that white Southerners switched to the Republican Party after the Democratic Congress and Democratic President passed the Civil Rights Act. People may deny it, but it's true.


But the good news is that Southerners are not nearly as racist as they used to be, and the election of a black president is going to literally break the backs of racist thinking.


The KKK is dead. It will never rise again.


That said, the South is a spectacularly beautiful place and is extremely affordable compared to the rest of the nation.

I'm a Westerner (CA), but am happy to live in the South. And, frankly, the South often has more common sense about business than the rest of the country. The Northeast and the West is over-regulated. Some of those regulations are good, but some are out of control.

While I agree with most of what you say in this post, I think you're being overly optimistic, if not naive, in thinking the KKK is dead. As long as they have somthing to latch onto to stoke their fears an insecurities they, and others of their ilk, will do so.

Gotta agree, some of it's roosting in Idaho.

the last area that hasnt shuned it yet
but that is coming too