You can't manufacture crazy without a whole lot of jeebus.

opportunities in the early 19th century. The assembly line, and the ability to make a living wage, had people coming up for a better life...and they brought their backwards thinking with them. My husband's family was among them. I love them, but they're idiots when it comes to politics.

If what you say is true, wouldn't those migrants have lived in cities, originally? Did these people disperse to rural areas when manufacturing died out?

If you look at most of the cities in the Midwest, you can actually trace the "rings" of construction and movement from the city to the suburbs.

From the 50s onward through the 60s and 70s, families moved from Detroit to Warren, Saint Clair Shores, Eastpointe (which was East Detroit then). In the 80s, they began moving out to Macomb, Shelby, Utica and onward.

You can't redistrict a state with one district.

But then I thought the point of redistricting was to create MORE districts, not safer ones.

Your facts about the states are interesting... but WHY are these groups in these states? They are a symptom of right wing ideology rather than a cause of it.

Nazis living there. Certain counties are absolutely frightening.

Certain kinds of anti-establishment types might not even vote.

small communities whose members do vote. But that's a good question.

Now they're broke and victims of a distant and nebulous "enemy"

of 'nation' many years ago. Some probably are former farmers, too. Colorado didn't used to have a problem until Colorado Springs became a huge draw for religionists from all over the country, and now that formerly friendly and cosmopolitan (though military) town is pretty over the top RW, from what I hear. I haven't been there in 30 years, so someone may correct me on that.

The midwest has tea baggers.

Who would have thought.

Not to oversimplify, but that is usually the case in this physical universe. Identifying that action may help.

The existence of a previous state indicates something changed it to what it is now. I'd say something changed in the TeaPersons political world that caused their reaction.

If you put up a similar map, showing the voting record in rural counties in the US, you'd get a very similar result. Lightly populated and conservative, rural America is Republican, for the most part. Here's such a map:

These areas are leading the charge for some reason.

Look at Minnesota. The only dot on that map is Michelle Bachman's district. Exurban and rural, that district is our most conservative. We have a couple of other Republican districts, but CD-6 is the most conservative.

Michelle Bachman is the only Minnesota Congress member who voted against the recent measure that extended the debt limit and re-opened government. All the rest voted yes.

Only part of the midwest seems to be this way.

Industrial MidWestern States is the problem.

Yeah, there might be some rural counties that do not fit into the conservative ideology, but I think conservatism fits the rural lifestyle. The center of a lot of rural communities is the church and people in rural communities are oftentimes attached to their community traditions, i.e. the 'big game', homecoming, Christmas pageants, Fall festivals, etc. This seems to me that it would lend itself to a sort of xenophobic, traditional, conservative mindset. Also, in rural areas there is less government infrastructure and less access to governmental programs. People probably feel more self-sufficient and don't see the value of government as much as someone in a city.

this kind of thing being racism, the tea party, libertarianism, all that stuff. Although racism in Michigan is mostly people claiming they're "color blind" and treat everyone the same, and would never use the N word, but otherwise behave just like any racist person anywhere and would have shot Trayvon Martin too and will explain until they're blue in the face why Zimmerman did the right thing.

I mean, seeing as they're no longer considered part of the midwest?

Apparently the OP knows something that the US Census Bureau does not.

If you draw a line at about the 100th parallel, that's where all those states start to turn from farming to ranching. It starts getting higher and drier as you start climbing toward the Rockies.

It's hard to imagine Rapid City and Akron as both being in the same region.

But for census purposes, the United States has four regions. Baltimore, MD and San Antonio, TX are considered part of the Southern Region. That's certainly more of a stretch than Rapid City to Akron.

The map illustrated my question though, luckily.

Of the 11 states of the old Confederacy, there are 38 representatives who signed the letter to Boehner. Of the 12 states comprising the Midwest, there are 22 who signed the letter, which would indicate that southern states are more than 50% more likely to be "reactionary" (however you happen to be defining that term) than states in the Midwest.

Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio account for more than half of the Midwestern total, which is only one shy of what Texas produced on its own.

So as I said, I don't think this map illustrates what you think it does...

I'm not sure why. That much is very obvious.

There are lots of republican states that don't have teabaggers, and the midwest (or whatever you want to call that region on the map I posted) has produced a surprising amount for a non-southern region.

I'll say it again. Based on this map, southern states are 50% more likely to have Teabag representatives than states in the Midwest.

Whatever you think you're proving through this graphic? You're really not.

Everyone knows the south has the most teabaggers. I mean, I just wrote that already... I'm trying to explain my position but I thought I did in my last post. Are you sure you read it? I can't explain it any better than that.

Why am I hung up on the south?

"There are a lot of teabaggers from the south"

The concept comes from Colin Woodward, in the book, American Nations.

To quote Woodward, writing here

Greater Appalachia -- home to nearly half of the shutdown hardliners -- was founded by a very different group of people: settlers from the war-ravaged borderlands of Northern England, lowland Scotland, and (especially) Northern Ireland. In this culture, "freedom" is about maximizing the autonomy of the individual and freeing each person from outside encumbrances. There was little love here for the aforementioned Deep Southern oligarchs -- indeed, the region sided with the Union in the Civil War for this very reason. But since Reconstruction, the federal government has appeared the greatest threat, imposing communitarian-minded innovations like income taxes, the Civil Rights Act, cap and trade, and of course, ObamaCare.

Thanks!

If it weren't for audiobooks, nothing would ever get done in my house. (Low threshold for boredom. Chores are way below that threshold.)

For example, Dennis Kucinich in Ohio lost his seat to redistricting.

People who know Michigan politics know that western Michigan is a very conservative part of the state. Obama (and Democrats in general) win Detroit and the major cities (especially the college towns), but there rest of the state is blood red. Fortunately, those parts of the state are not very populated.

As with Wisconsin and Ohio, Michigan suffered the misfortune of the Tea Bagger Uprising, which lead to their getting a borderline-sociopath as governor. I'm pretty sure this is going to change in the next election.

has played a big role in shaping people's political views. There is no alternative to this garbage in rural areas across the country. I remember passing through Redding, CA in the late 90s and in the span of 25 miles Limbaugh occupied three different AM channels. There was no progressive talk. Expand this across the country and it is no wonder folks in rural areas have been brainwashed by all the lies they have been subjected to.

It's the result of having a Rethug legislature in 2001 and 2011.

Also you will notice that the ones that signed the letter come from West Michigan (aka DeVos land)

And both are like Mississippi...