Because a friend said it so much better than I could.
A friend of mine on LJ talks about life in the Bible Belt as a normal Catholic and the polarization between fundamentalists and non-fundamentalists. Well worth a read, especially if you want to understand what’s at the root of the political situation over here.
That’s a pretty good article. As a life-long New Englander, I really would feel like a fish out of water anywhere else. Despite all of our Northeast flaws, which I recognize and know to be many, I really think I’d have a tough time in the South. Even Ohio was somewhat jarring for me.
Having spent some time in south-central IL, I can totally believe those attitudes exist. The west coast tends to be more liberal, if you stick to major cities. New England seems to be more live and let live in the case of a disagreement. Then again if people lived as closely to others as they do back east, you’d need to put aside differences more readily.