The Rising South
An interesting article (by a Yankee no less) on the growing power of the South and the bigotry many northerners and west-coasters have towards it, at American Thinker:
Our Army is composed of volunteers and to a disproportionate extent they hail from the South. The South accounts for 40 percent of all Army officers. The Defense Department has found that their efforts to recruit volunteers from Northern states are so fruitless that it has been shutting down offices throughout the region.
The disdain felt towards the military is undoubtedly intertwined with the disdain felt towards the South. Northerners think the Hatfield-McCoy feud symbolizes the violence supposedly endemic to Southerners. Instead of admiring the patriotic virtues of the Southern military tradition -- its admiration for bravery, its concepts of valor and heroism -- Northerners have come to view Southerners as descendants of plantation overseers and slave drivers. They are willing to lay down their lives for ours; we are willing to lay down some ink on the pages of newspapers to insult them.
What he said.