9.3.9: Origins of Political Orientation
- Page ID
- 212736
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\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)Origins of Political Orientation
How and why these political regions developed are questions that have prompted geographers to offer several theories. Some would point to historical migration patterns from Europe, alluded to earlier in this chapter, as the principal driving force behind American political culture. The excellent volume Albion’s Seed suggests that even the earliest waves of English colonists arriving nearly simultaneously in Massachusetts and Virginia brought radically different political philosophies with them from different parts of England. The collectivist, Puritanical Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth Rock were very, very different from the colonists who established a class-conscious, commercial colony at Jamestown, Virginia.
Figure: Vietnam Memorial, Washington D.C. 1982. Consider how differently this monument commemorates war than the statuary in the images above. What does it say about the contemporary nation-building process in the United States?
The contrasts between the political philosophy within the United States sometimes make the country hard to govern, especially in recent years when the influence of gerrymandering has exacerbated the inflexibility of elected representatives. Americans think their political differences are vast, but compared to the political heterogeneity found in many parts of the world, we are rather homogenous and generally centrist. Europeans suggest that American politicians all seem just right of center; only as dissimilar as Pepsi and Coke. The European style parliamentary systems provide space for a far wider spectrum of political parties and philosophies than the American two-party system.
Environmental Roots of Political Difference
Other geographers would point to the varying environmental conditions in the United States as significant factors in the evolution of American political traditions. In New England, naturally occurring waterfalls provided locals with a great source of inanimate power to drive textile mills. Here factory-style industrialization occurred much earlier than elsewhere in the US. It is probable that a more progressive, socially inclusive political philosophy developed to deal with the rapid changes brought on by industrialization, urbanization and the massive influx of European immigrants.
In the South, where poor soils and the lack of a viable coastal source of industrial energy undermined widespread industrialization for many generations, large-scale plantation-style agriculture developed instead, alongside a rigid, race-based class system. Lacking a significant industrial, middle class and job-seeking immigrants, but faced with a large, potentially dangerous racial underclass, the agricultural south adopted a conservative, faith-based political philosophy to maintain the precarious status quo.
In the wide-open spaces of the Plains and the Mountain West, the sparse population invested (attracted?) people with a sense of individualism that grew far stronger than elsewhere in the country. Ranchers and homesteaders on isolated farms created an insular society, where neighbors might live a mile or more apart from each other. Unlike New England, where “all for one and one for all” collective action was the rule, in parts of the Midwest and West, people adopted a more “every man for himself” attitude. This is not to say that farmers and ranchers are/were incapable of caring deeply for their neighbors on a personal level, but rather that it is evident they prefer the government not to involve itself in negotiating how the relationship between neighbors in a community plays out.
It’s important not to take these nature-based arguments too far lest you fall into the trap of environmental determinist thinking. Still, it’s impossible to deny the role of soil, water, and climate on the evolution of political thinking in the United States. A reasonable approach to understanding why regions cling to a specific political order is to consider a host of causal variables, such as ethnicity, religion, economics and the environment.