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I also think the similarities present throughout America, with the possible exception of Hawaii and southern Louisiana are stronger than cross-border similarities between the northern US and adjacent Canadian regions. Fundamentally Bellingham, Washington has more in common with Jacksonville or South Bend than it does with Vancouver or Victoria because it's an American city full of Americans.
Maybe because as a visitor I was more struck by landscape difference and also in age (west coast of both countries is much newer than the Northeast), but I found western Washington had a lot of similarities with Canada just over other the border.
I don't really care how popular guns are per state/region, I just care that there are differences, which is exactly my point. There are cultural differences. There are many similarities found throughout different regions of America, but there are also some pretty major differences. Most of New England, New York, and New Jersey, which you say are overall anti-gun/lacking in that culture, makes up the bulk of an entire region of the US - the most densely populated one, too. That is essentially one whole, important region where gun culture is mild or basically nonexistent. That's a stark difference, and to foreigners especially guns are a big part of the perceived American culture.
It's not a perceived part of American Culture it is a part of American culture. Most of New England's culture is strictly found in New England but that doesn't mean it's not American culture. It's part of it just a regional part of the culture is all. However gun culture also comes from the fact we have the 2nd Amendment in the US Constitution which is what makes it apart of the national culture with only a few areas like most of New England being odd balls in this regard.
Also as far as regions go it's one of several and they are all important not just that one.
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Your third paragraph also proves my point. That's part of TX culture - not all of America. It's another big difference I noticed when I was there.
The same way the Liberty Bell and Gettysburg are not part of the culture either. That doesn't make PA not American because you won't find the same things venerated in NJ which is what I was getting at.
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It did not feel like home in that sense. It was new, exciting, but different. In other ways when I was in Texas, it felt like I could have been anywhere but sometimes, I knew I was somewhere else. I didn't even really venture out into the Dallas area much and I still felt this.
Pretty much how I feel about New England except for the exciting part. Does that mean New England is not American?
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I think the OP is correct in some ways, but not others. There is definitely an overall American culture/lifestyle but there are some pretty major differences per region or even state. Religion is another. There's only one Bible Belt and it makes up the bulk of the South, for example. Religion is not prevalent in most of New England and some other Northeastern states.
Religion isn't widespread in New England due to how religiously fanatic bigotry was once commonplace in New England and the that is an embarrassment to most people from that region. I'm not aware of the South burning witches and running around accusing others of witchcraft like New England did. Maybe that is a reason why religion is still very popular in the South? The Midatlantic states religion can be either popular or unpopular but it generally doesn't concern people like it does in the New England or the Deep South.
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Much of the West is pretty un-religious and pretty liberal while more Christian areas tend to be conservative. I think it depends on how you define culture, because it varies.
You can swap out religion with environmentalism and you get the same deal in some western states.
I agree that "gun culture" is a stupid term, because it encompasses two different things.
In many parts of the U.S., particularly in rural areas, guns are widely owned, but considered almost akin to tools, used almost strictly for hunting and practice shooting. This is different from the "vigilante attitude" - that one should be armed at all times and should be willing to use lethal force in order to stop a crime against ones self or ones property. Which is why you have some states (like North Dakota) with high rates of gun ownership, but few deaths due to injury from firearms, and other states (like Arizona) with a lower number of guns per capita, but a much higher rate of firearm death.
The French influence in New York will be way up by the Canadian border, while the Dutch influence ( think Roosevelt) is quite strong in the area between NYC and Albany, including the entire Capital District..
The German influence is quite strong in states like Wisconsin and Minnesota, and also in the Chicago area. In truth, virtually the entire Midwest..
There is a French Huguenot influence in the Hudson Valley along with the Dutch influence(think New Paltz and New Rochelle).
I agree that "gun culture" is a stupid term, because it encompasses two different things.
In many parts of the U.S., particularly in rural areas, guns are widely owned, but considered almost akin to tools, used almost strictly for hunting and practice shooting. This is different from the "vigilante attitude" - that one should be armed at all times and should be willing to use lethal force in order to stop a crime against ones self or ones property. Which is why you have some states (like North Dakota) with high rates of gun ownership, but few deaths due to injury from firearms, and other states (like Arizona) with a lower number of guns per capita, but a much higher rate of firearm death.
For Arizona and other parts of the country with high number of murders it's really due to things like the drug war, lack of opportunities to advance yourself, poverty, etc. People like to blame guns because it's an easy scape goat instead of dealing with the real problems. I'm not trying to be an NRA advocate here I'm just stating that the whole gun debate in essence is bs since at the end of the day nothing is going to get solved by it.
Religion isn't widespread in New England due to how religiously fanatic bigotry was once commonplace in New England and the that is an embarrassment to most people from that region. I'm not aware of the South burning witches and running around accusing others of witchcraft like New England did. Maybe that is a reason why religion is still very popular in the South? The Midatlantic states religion can be either popular or unpopular but it generally doesn't concern people like it does in the New England or the Deep South.
The switch over happened much later than that. In the early 1800s Alexis de Toquevile remarked about how heavily religious New England was, and how the U.S. South was the most unchurched/irreligious place he had ever traveled to. The South didn't begin developing a moralist, religious attitude until the end of the Second Great Awakening.
The Puritan influence on the U.S. lasted in the Northeast until the modern era. The Supreme Court case which overturned state laws restricting access to birth control in 1965 was based upon a Connecticut law. New England was a center of Prohibition, and even after its repeal "blue laws" remained on the books. It was illegal to get a tattoo in Massachusetts when I was in college around 15 years ago. Divorce rates remain the lowest in the country in New England. New England has secularized, but the puritan moralistic streak is still everywhere if you know where to look.
It's the same if your from PA entering Massachusetts. Massachusetts is just in a different region of the country then PA is in (I don't buy the whole Northeastern Culture bs for a moment). PA regionally has about as much in common with Massachusetts as it does with Alabama which is to say not a whole hell of a lot.
That's quite an exaggeration (just as it is referring to rural PA as 'another country' compared to Cambridge). Massachusetts certainly has differences with a state like Pennsylvania--mostly due to PA having a more substantial rural population and a strong German/Protestant influence that is completely absent anywhere in New England--but honestly I've personally found a lot of striking similarities (at least in Eastern PA and Massachusetts) in terms of history, demographics, and other cultural attributes.
To the point of this thread, I actually agree with the OP--to an extent. The more I travel around the US, the more I also believe that our cultural differences are often overblown, and this is becoming more true with the passage of time. Yes, there are definitely local "flavors" and "atmospheres," but to some extent we're keeping these alive for the sake of tradition and maintaining identity--not out of necessity (not that this isn't a good thing--or even an important thing--but it is true that sameness is the default in the world of globalization).
We can talk until we're blue in the face about our differences in terms of political and religious identity, wealth, race, state laws, etc., but to me, those are extremely superficial and socially-constructed. At our core, we're all people with the same basic needs, desires, and feelings.
The GOP is more aligned with libertarianism is why they vote for them.
The GOP is only more aligned with libertarian ideals on economic policy, certainly not social policy. On matters of civil liberties and foreign there isn't a strict partisan divide in general. To my mind that would mean that an honest libertarian would look at each candidate individually and weigh the merits.
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