The American Nations and the 2016 Election
America’s distinct regional cultures helps explain our deep political divisions.
Waffle House and the American Nations
When discussing North American regionalism one is bound, sooner or later, to explore the stark division of the country between Waffle House and IHOP restaurants, two franchises whose territories almost never overlap. Yesterday over at the Washington Post’s The Fix, Chris Cillizza obliged, demonstrating with state-level data that Waffle Houses are concentrated in states won… Read more »
Virginia’s Gubernatorial Race: Debunking the “Rural vs Urban” Explanation
A couple of weeks ago I wrote that the real split in the Virginia governor’s race – and in opinion toward the Tea Party – is between the section of the state dominated by the centuries-old culture of Greater Appalachia and that of the Tidewater. Those – and nine other dominant regional cultures – are… Read more »
New Jersey: Regional Divide Reflected Even in Christie’s Landslide
To the surprise of nobody, Republican Chris Christie was reelected governor of New Jersey in a landslide Tuesday. Commentators have rightly observed that a relative moderate like Christie can do for Republicans what the Tea Party never will: win in a “blue” state. Or, more accurately, Christie showed how Republicans can be competitive within the… Read more »
Virginia: Two Regional Cultures, Stark Differences in Gubernatorial Election
For two years now, I’ve been arguing in this space, in the pages of the Monthly, and elsewhere, that the Tea Party was doomed on the national stage because it’s agenda is anathema to the cultural traditions of vast swaths of the country. Instead, it would become isolated in the South and interior West, the… Read more »
