Why are Southern whites so out of the mainstream of America? (user search)
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  Why are Southern whites so out of the mainstream of America? (search mode)
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Author Topic: Why are Southern whites so out of the mainstream of America?  (Read 7931 times)
minionofmidas
Lewis Trondheim
Atlas Institution
*****
Posts: 58,206
India


« on: January 12, 2009, 12:57:20 PM »

That's not entirely true - in fact, the top section really isn't true at all. The Republican Party's economic libertarianism appeals to Western voters, in a region with a very low level of poverty, but many Southern whites incline towards populism (they were the single biggest bloc supporting the New Deal, after all). Social issues played a much larger role in converting them to Republicanism than did economics.

This does vary by state, of course. Tennessee, your state, is relatively economically conservative, having passed a 'right-to-work' law and generally viewing economic populism unfavorably. Likewise Virginia and (North) Carolina are not hugely industrialized - though they are becoming moreso today - and have always inclined towards 'traditionalism'. However, 'industrial South' states like Arkansas and West Virginia are gung-ho for economic liberalism. George Wallace's New Deal economic platform played just as strongly as his racialism did in those areas.

I would say that Virginia was equally industrialized to Tennessee, even in the 19th and early to mid 20th century, also Virginia has right to work and other industrial and economic laws.   
Certainly North Carolina is an industrial state, and Arkansas is not.
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minionofmidas
Lewis Trondheim
Atlas Institution
*****
Posts: 58,206
India


« Reply #1 on: January 12, 2009, 01:55:31 PM »

That's not entirely true - in fact, the top section really isn't true at all. The Republican Party's economic libertarianism appeals to Western voters, in a region with a very low level of poverty, but many Southern whites incline towards populism (they were the single biggest bloc supporting the New Deal, after all). Social issues played a much larger role in converting them to Republicanism than did economics.

This does vary by state, of course. Tennessee, your state, is relatively economically conservative, having passed a 'right-to-work' law and generally viewing economic populism unfavorably. Likewise Virginia and (North) Carolina are not hugely industrialized - though they are becoming moreso today - and have always inclined towards 'traditionalism'. However, 'industrial South' states like Arkansas and West Virginia are gung-ho for economic liberalism. George Wallace's New Deal economic platform played just as strongly as his racialism did in those areas.

I would say that Virginia was equally industrialized to Tennessee, even in the 19th and early to mid 20th century, also Virginia has right to work and other industrial and economic laws.   
Certainly North Carolina is an industrial state, and Arkansas is not.

No; North Carolina is a financial/technological services state. Arkansas doesn't have a great deal of industry, but what it has is much more oriented towards traditional manual labor, making it more receptive to economic populism.
North Carolina is one of the great historical centres of the US textiles industry. Next.
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