While I respect the fact that youve obviously given this some thought a few counterpoints  Every single state in the union with the possible exception of Rhode Island mostly because its 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  miles from the coast and the Bay Area New York Same deal if youve ever been to upstate New York youll see And of course the reverse is true too  a lot of Texas is really nice progressive even Ive heard some lessthanterrible things about Birmingham Alabama Even Okladumbasshoma has some okay parts of Tulsa So I honestly believe that youre about  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 nonthreatening 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