is there a southern element to some of the west?

[All Along The Watchtower]

Not really Southern, more of a Midwestern/Great Plains/Lower Midwest/Upper South influence. The Central Valley and other inland parts of California historically were populated by "Okies" and '"Arkies", especially after the Dust Bowl.

The religious right has never just been a Southern phenomenon. Plenty of Midwesterners have had strong right-wing Christian views throughout the year. You've got to understand, the main reason the religious right is so prevalent in the Sun Belt suburbs is because a huge number of out-of-state transplants (many of them already deeply religious) came to those areas during the post-War years. Not many people knew each other in those new communities. Since the Sun Belt suburban boom was based on the creation of solidly white middle-class suburbs that were intensely privatized in terms of urban space (old community/town centers were often destroyed in places like Southern CA to make room for isolated sub-divisions), the only place for many of these people to mingle and meet people were the conservative/evangelical churches. And those churches reaffirmed individual economic freedom, social conservatism, "personal salvation" instead of the Social Gospel...in other words, intensely right-wing interpretations of the Gospel.

In terms of the military-industrial complex: the strong ties to not just the military, but also defense-related industries of places like suburban Southern California, Maricopa County, Arizona, Colorado Springs, and also many of the suburban Sun Belt regions of the Southeast (Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Texas, etc.) made the link between the Cold War, prosperity, and anti-communism very real for millions of Sun Belt residents. When a huge portion of your economy is devoted to fighting the Reds, and you benefit directly from that defense spending, it's easy to see why some  people in those areas joined the John Birch Society or the Christian Anti-Communist Crusade.