While I respect the fact that you ve obviously given this some thought a few counterpoints 1 Every single state in the union with the possible exception of Rhode Island mostly because it s so damn tiny is a transitional state with the features you mentioned Examples California includes ghettos really rich gated comunities hick towns such as Watsonville or virtually any city more than 100 miles from the coast and the Bay Area New York Same deal if you ve ever been to upstate New York you ll see And of course the reverse is true too a lot of Texas is really nice progressive even I ve heard some less than terrible things about Birmingham Alabama Even Okla dumbass homa has some okay parts of Tulsa So I honestly believe that you re about 180 degrees on this one your statement while eloquent was somewhat meaningless whereas History makes some valid points the most valid of which is that if you speaking in the generic non threatening second person call me a southerner I will tie you to the back of a pickup truck and drag you to your death while throwing beer cans out the window to hit you in your skull