Gee Tano, To think I had credited you earlier with mastery of the crayon medium![lol]

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Why should a southerner give a d**n, if some are "deeply insulted"? It appears above to be the avocation of many to "deeply insult" their betters from the South!
Slandering the South has become a tradition among those who suffer from true inferiority and are desperate to compensate!

**In fairness to Drum, Ford probably shouldn’t count since his thesis is about presidents who are elected. So, if we modify his statement to “Five of our last seven elected presidents,” we scratch Ford (who incidentally moved to California when he left the White House) and add in Texan Lyndon Johnson.

Given Drum and his left wing politicking, one wonders if GWB isn't on that list of exclusions... the wacko left, you'll recall, is to this day salivating over the idea that he wasn't elected, either.

I can say without a doubt that the southern people are, on personal basis, as decent a people as you will find anywhere in America. From New York to Los Angeles you could not find more amiable populations that you can find in almost any southern city.

The people are nice but that is not the problem with the south. The problem is the southern culture. Southern culture is myopic, vituperative, dishonest, cunning, shallow and materialistic to an extreme.

A business deal with a Northerner or Westerner that can be sealed with a handshake after being reviewed by the lawyers and accountants is impossible with a Southerner. They are simply not as trustworthy. They are constantly looking for loopholes and advantages in any business deal in order to gain at your expense.

And they do this with a warm smile on their faces and a sincere invitation to a family bar-b-que next time you are in town.

Places where southern culture is declining, like in the research triangle or the financial center of Charlotte, are places where northerners have moved in and become culturally dominant. These are the places where honest businesses deals get done and commerce can thrive.

Southern culture is what is keeping the south down. It is the reason we still have to support it with tax dollars from the more decent parts of America.

I have to point out M1EK has a pretty valid point in his comment.

Southern politicians blather on about fiscal conservatism, individual responsibility, etc. Then they proceed to get their snout in the trough to an astounding degree and shovel massive amounts of pork back to the southern states.

The ag subsidy programs were abused so much in the south that the phrase "mississippi christmas tree" is used to describe one prominent misuse of the system.

You are right about these programs being put in place and largely supported by the progressives / liberals.

Which is why I find it somewhat entertaining when liberals / progresssives complain when lots of people sign up for the programs the liberals / progressives started.

"Terminate the programs that transfer money from the taxpayers in the North East to the tax eaters in the South."

You and M1EK should get right on this. The "Progressives" of the '30s started this to buy influence. It should be apparent by now that just because the Yankees buy us dinner doesn't mean they get to screw with us. Of course, if you aren't buying we don't have to smile and listen to you incessant harping anymore.

The uncouth, unabashed pride in Americanism is what defines these people not their region of the country. Perhaps now that the MSM hegemony is waning, a politician who speaks directly to the Jacksonian in Brooklyn or rural Michigan will make some headway in state politics. It isn't Southerners who keep getting elected, it is candidates who believe in and have hope for America who get elected.

Because when the Southerners got here, they found indigenous suburban Americans at strip malls in the Northeast, Midwest, and West?

ALL of the country was settled by "pioneers" of one type or other.

Don't mess with Texas women either. While in the southern states it is an understood courtesy that the woman must extend her hand first for a handshake, it is also best understood that the same woman with the soft hand might be able to line up a shot and knock a cigarette butt off the fence down by the mailbox.

I am a Texas lady and make no apologies!

Tammy Swofford

Being a Southerner has nothing to do with how we talk, or the type of hat we wear (I alternate between my Stetson and a Panama hat), or geography for that matter. Being from the South is a cultural thing that no one outside the South could understand.

It's about showing respect to others, not being afraid to help others (even total strangers), and not caring much what others think of us. It's about doing what is right, especially when it's not the easiest thing to do. Its about thanking God for the few blessing He has bestowed upon us. It's about living a simple life and wanting nothing more. It's about honor (a man's word is his bond) and it's about standing your ground in any confrontation, no matter the odds against you.

Some claim it's about God, guts and guns. Perhaps, although I prefer to think of it as Mom, apple pie, and the American flag. Regardless of how you care to put it, I have never been prouder to be an American before moving here.

And y'all can take that to the bank!