Just Finished Reading: American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America by Colin Woodard

This was a fascinating read, and perfect for the weeks leading up to the 4^th of July. Woodard’s basic point is that the US isn’t divided into blue states, red states and purple states, but that there are 11 “nations” within the US that compete for cultural and political dominance. He gets into Canada and Mexico a little bit, too, since these nations, marked by ethnic, language and cultural differences, don’t follow state or national lines.

Here are the nations I was most interested in because of where I've lived:

Yankeedom, founded by Puritans/Congregationalists, has strong cultural values around equality, the common good, shared public resources, and limited tolerance for difference. Yankeedom is pretty big, and includes Minnesota – the Yankees basically just colonized in a big East to West band, and then the Scandinavians who felt at home in Minnesota also happened to have similar values to the Yankees. Religious orientation: Public Protestant – faith determines how we live together and build a society.

Midlander culture was founded by William Penn with Pennsylvania. The big values here are tolerance, diversity, and then everything else is middle of the road. Midlanders don’t want people/the gov’t interfering in their lives – a libertarian streak, and a commitment to freedom of speech and conscience. They didn’t get along so well with the warlike….

Borderlanders – Think greater Appalachia. As America is being colonized, these folks arrive by the thousands out of Scotland and Ireland, which up to this point had been enduring 800 years of warfare. Think Braveheart, and then think Hatfields and McCoys. Manliness is defined by your willingness to defend your honor, not your ability to provide for your family. Lots of clannishness. The Borderlanders hit the coast, and then immediately move west to get as far from meddling civilization as they can. The Borderlanders want freedom and a good life, and aren’t so worried about the Protestant Work ethic. Religiously, they’re Presbyterian, with a Private Protestant orientation – faith is between me & Jesus and the focus is on personal piety/morality/salvation. In the American revolution and the Civil War, the Borderlanders fought against….

The Deep South – Founded by English gentlemen who wanted to recreate the slave colony of Barbados, the basic cultural goals of the Deep South are just about exactly the opposite of Yankeedom:

“The goal of the Deep Southern oligarchy has been consistent for over four centuries: to control and maintain a one-party state with a colonial-style economy based on large-scale agriculture and the extraction of primary resources by a compliant, poorly-educated, low-wage workforce with as few labor, workplace safety, health care, and environmental regulations as possible.” (p. 302)

In spite the Borderlanders’ strong commitment to freedom and self-determination that’s in exact opposition to this goal, the Deep South has developed an uneasy Dixie alliance using the common Private Protestant religion and racism. Here Woodard quotes from What’s the Matter with Kansas by Thomas Frank (which I also want to read...):

“Vote to stop abortion, receive a rollback in capital gains taxes. Vote to make our country strong again, receive deindustrialization. Vote to screw those politically correct college professors, receive electricity deregulation. Vote to get government off our backs, receive conglomeration and monopoly everywhere from media to meatpacking. Vote to stand tall against terrorists, receive Social Security privatization. Vote to strike a blow against elitism, receive a social order in which wealth is more concentrated than ever before in our lifetimes, in which workers have been stripped of power and CEOs are rewarded in a manner beyond imagining.” (p. 304)

Other items of interest:

• The Inuit of northern Canada and Greenland are having a go at self-governance, and there are some really cool things about what they’re doing – communal land ownership, sustainably harvested forests, and a strong environmental ethic. 
• The northern Mexican culture of the Southwest is growing in strength and size and will probably be the next important swing nation. I can’t even get into the role of racism running through the book, but historic racism won’t be doing the Deep South any favors as this nation grows in prominence. On the other hand, Jeb Bush speaks Spanish, so…. 
• Finally, I think just to keep things interesting, Woodard describes the US as an empire in decline. He thinks the US could break apart, or Mexico could, and then there might be new borders and new nations within the current US. Interesting to think about, but I am hoping our union will stay strong in spite of the internal challenges. 

 It is fascinating to learn how differently different internal cultures see what it means to be American. But I hope we will continue to be a union for many years to come.