Who knows. I love the town I live in but not so much the general region. People are so hung up on the past here that they are literally against any sort of change even thought change is inevitable. It is much worse in the town I grew up in. Even here though people always complain about the college kids and the growth of the college yet that is what has made the economy in this town do well and is why we have low unemployment.

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"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

No, I left the south at an early age and returned as an educated adult who had resided in other locales, a corporate transfer. During that absence I had shed my southern attributes other than family, including the accent. Accents, like languages, are simple to employ when deemed necessary and quickly establish an implied bond.

Agreed, racism is prevalent everywhere but often concentrated in areas prone to cultural stagnation.

I was born and spent the first half of my life in the North (Chicago area, northern Ohio). Moved to Kentucky when I was about 14. Despite not being a native, I’ve grown to love it and gladly call myself a Kentuckian.

Because I work in Ohio (Cincinnati), I experience the stark contrast between the North and South every day. The vast majority of my coworkers who live it Ohio couldn’t think of anything more repugnant than living in Kentucky among us hillbillies. Conversely, most of my neighbors in Kentucky think people from Ohio are a bunch of godless liberal pansies. You need drive only about 10-20 miles South of downtown Cincinnati before you start noticing the rebel flags.

Because neither of my parents were born in this country, I don’t have any family history tied to the Civil War or any background that makes me feel more northern or more southern. But I do prefer the slower pace of life, the friendliness of the people, and overall easy-going nature of the South.

As for the Confederate flag, it’s always seemed more a like a regional symbol to me than a symbol of racism. I can understand why many in the North may see the racist aspect, but I’m also convinced that many find it offensive because it continues to represent a very real sense of unity that exists among southern states. Whenever I travel through other areas of the South and tell new people I meet that I’m from Kentucky, any initial wariness on their part melts away instantly and they start acting like they’ve just discovered a long-lost cousin. It’s remarkable, really.

Anyway, I can’t think of any other part of the country where you’ll find this much regional pride. A few New England states may share something similar, but not to the same level. I read something recently in which a person from Vermont was bad-mouthing New Hampshire, and I thought, “Gee, aren’t they basically the same state?”

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There you are!

As a former transplanted New Englander, I can tell you that Vermont & New Hampshire are night & day & the hostility is palpable. And people from Maine have a great deal of Yankee pride, though they share a lot in common with the South (especially New Orleans, in that they're all descended largely from the French in terms of cultural artifice).

But I travel a lot, and regional pride is found everywhere. I live in Missouri, which many Missourians view as part of the "south" in that the state had divided loyalties (like Kentucky, Maryland, & Delaware) during the Civil War. I would say this is really only true of the Ozark region, whereas St. Louis feels more like an "eastern" city & Kansas City feels more a part of the "west." Having lived in Oklahoma, Massachusetts, and both St. Louis & KC (among other places), and now travelling a good deal of the U.S. on a regular basis (45 states in the last 3 1/2 years), I can say with a great deal of certainty that regionalism is still very much alive & well in all quarters of the country. Add to it that I know at least one person from every single state (including boht Alaska & Hawaii, places I've never even visited), and from what I know of them I can further conclude that my assessment is a true one.

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"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither breaks my leg, nor picks my pocket."

Thomas Jefferson

I once had a boss who was originally from Maine and claimed that Kentucky reminded him a lot of his old state (except for the accent).

I also travel alot, and I'm not implying that regionalism doesn't exist elsewhere. But I contend that it's much more apparent in the South. For example, I would agree that there are shared regional attitudes that are unique to those who live on the West Coast. My point was that their affiliation or recognition of this similarity isn't nearly as strong as the sense of kinship or pride in tradition that is reflected by Southerners.

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There you are!

Well, what exactly IS the South? Seems a HUGE area that stretches at least from the Atlantic south of DC (but also including Maryland & Delaware) to Texas, with the Ohio River as its northern border (but excluding West Virginia), then Missouri's northern border, and Oklahoma's northern border. That's at least how I'd define it. But again, that's what, 16 states? So, if you want to say 1/3 of the country has great regional pride, yeah, they do, but that's easy when you're numbers are so overwhelming.

New Englanders, I assure you, are equally as enthusiastic about their region, but you never here of it because their total geographic size (not to mention positioning) is slightly larger than the entire state of Missouri.

And people from Nebraska are VERY proud. And folks from Wyoming are prouder still. But you never here this, because Nebraska has about 1.7 million people total (with over half of that concentrated in Omaha & Lincoln), while the whole of Wyoming has about 1/2 million residents.

So I'd posit that the huge geographic swath of territory that is the South, combined with the fact that many parts of it are primary vacation spots for many Americans (thus, many more Americans come into contact with it----when was the last time you vacationed in Nebraska?), makes it SEEM that the South has more regional pride than other areas.

BTW, I'm taking a trip to Omaha next week. And Scottsbluff next month. I like the fact that there are not that many people and the vistas are wide open.

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"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither breaks my leg, nor picks my pocket."

Thomas Jefferson

The fact that the attitude throughout the South is so homogenous across so many states was exactly my point. State to state, and even within states, you'll find regional pride. But in terms of regions comprising multiple states, I don't think you'll find anything else in the US that matches the fervor of the South.

Sounds like my kind of place. I've told my wife on many occassions how I'd like to live by one of those lakes in Alaska where you have to have a plane to come and go. She thinks I'm joking.

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There you are!

I guess I'll concede your point, only to add that New England is by & large a homogenous area, except if you're within the area. Then, Vermonters hate those from New Hampshire, Rhode Islanders despise those from the Bay State, etc. But the regional pride of being a chowda-head is as expansive as that in the South. It's just that Connecticut is not a hot vacation spot, and the region is virtually isolated from the rest of the nation, so it's not as well known of a quantity as the "South," though it definitely has more defined boudnaries than the amorphous blob that comprises the "South."

Same in the South. Alabamans joke about Georgians, Georgians hate Floridians, Texans feel superior to everyone else, and Mississippi is the regional joke.

BTW, is that your face superimposed over my deity of choice? Or is it Stephen Colbert? Or are you Stephen Colbert's love-child?

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"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither breaks my leg, nor picks my pocket."

Thomas Jefferson