Culture in the United States of America

What else is left to him to do after having lost the campaign to Mr. Bush?

albore
Roger

New Haven, Another thought came to mind as I read your post about Albore losing to Bush. What if he had won, and our economy tanked anyway? That would have been interesting to watch - more so than watching GWB's myopia for war with Iraq. c.i.

Quite right, New Haven. Let's start a rumor that it's now Bush wanting a recount.

And Bush has more clout with the SC. There are possibilities..... c.i.

What I've always noticed and loved about America is how the culture changes in just a few miles. The Texans of San Angelo are different than the Texans of Fredericksburg and both are vastly different than the folks south of San Antonio. Along the Oklahoma/ Arkansas border there are teeny remnants of a group of Italian immigrants, and a few miles west of there, whole towns are culturally Cherokee, go a few more miles to Boley and find the descendants of former slaves who founded the town at the end of the Civil War. Oklahomans celebrate Juneteenth and Rooster Day, Kansans look at you strangely if you ask about these holidays, but they are vaguely familiar with Cherokee Strip Days.

In each case, the local people done either of two things or both. They have either tried to hold on to the culture of their forebearers or they have tried to invent some significant marker for themselves, something that says to the rest of the world, "Here we are, this is us, this is who we were and will be."

As we intermingle the cultural changes are fun to watch, I know Catholic women who can make superb gefilte fish, Irishmen who make a great Lasagna, German/Norge couples who love enchiladas and vuevos rancheros, and it's not just food, although I admit it's my prime indicator. One of my friends is a self-described guinea-jewboy, he raises horses in CA much to the dismay of his yiddisha mama in Florida.

So, to finally answer the question, I don't think there is a single characteristic that defines areas as large those you have asked about. I know we have stereotypes for them, Westerners are cowboys, New Englanders are Puritan, Southerners are Rednecks and Mid-westerners are all Lutherans with a taste for meatloaf and greenjello, but it's not that easy. Ask the Portuguese families on the Massachusetts coast about the Puritans, they say,"The who?"
Joe Nation

JOE:

Excellent post!

Kinda hit it on the head, didn't he!

Joe Nation, Very good observation. But, you know what? Some of them have funny accents. c.i.

There's a comment in today's 'Guardian', which points to some of the here discussed issues:

"The cultural side of anti-Europeanism has a long, thick history. Throughout the 20th century, American culture defined itself as the fundamental against the complex, the bold against the hesitant, the redskin against the paleface. Against the opera, there was Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. Against symphonies, there was jazz. Against Proust, Joyce, and American wannabes like Henry James, there was Hemingway, with his Old Testament cadences. (Never mind that he was an expat too.) The European movie talked, the American movie moved. Arnold Schwarzenegger could become an American icon, not despite his limited facility with the American language, but because of it. "I saw a Rohmer movie once," says a character in Arthur Penn's Night Moves (1975). "It was like watching paint dry." And this from one of Hollywood's most sophisticated directors. "


Europe? Frankly, America doesn't give a damn...

Walter, Your post sounds more like jealousy than recriminations. After all, I bet most Europeans go see American movies regularly. c.i.

Of course it's that, just jalousy

Arnold is a smart guy. He married a Kennedy relation didn't he?

Can I weigh in on the difference between the United States of America and the United States of Europe?
If you ask someone from New York or Texas or Missouri if they are a New Yorker or a Texan or a ShowMeStater OR if they are an American, they will say they are Americans. (Yes, the Texan had to be shoved from behind by his wife, but he will say it, especially if we are in a fight.)
But if you ask someone from France or Germany or Italy if they are French or German or Italian OR are they a European, there will be a long silence, especially if they are standing next to each other, then they will say "Long live France, God bless our Homeland, All roads lead to Rome!"
Two thousand years of conflict with about 100 years in that time of relative peace amongst the United States of Europe leads me to believe there is no place named Europe where several peoples act as one. Yugoslavia recently disintegrated on their doorstep and the United States of Europe apparently could do nothing to assist any of the innocents nor find a way to stop the bloodshed without the United States of America and it's airplanes.
The new European Countries, those recently freed from the bonds of the Iron curtain, have a better chance of performing as a unit than do the old countries. A Missourian may grit his teeth as a Texan takes his seat in the White House, but he will follow him. Can you see the citizen from Monparnasse saluting the new President of the United States of Europe if she is from Poland? Three generations hence Croats and Serbs will be dancing together at weddings, while others in other countries, no names needed here, will be looking down there noses at each other as they have for two millennia.

Joe Nation, That brings home to roost the true United States of Europe. Not only fragile, but divided by more than their different economies. Thanks for sharing that perspective. It rings true to me. c.i.

Joe Nation

That certainly depends, how you pose that question where in Europe.

France being one country for centuries is on the way of regionalizing for some years - quite a few think of Normanish, Britannian or Aquatanian culture in first place. Like we do here in Germany or Austria.
(BTW: in first place I'm a Westphalian .... or a European, depends on.Only re football/soccer [sports] I'm German in first place.)

The EU will never become a 'country' like the USA - no-one intends to do such. Thus, a 'President of the EU' would never have such 'office' like the one in Washington DC.

Sorry, Mr. Hinteler, are you sure that you put your being a European prior to your being a German? I always considered that being a German may be a cause of pride per se.

It seems to me that the EU today is more like the United States was under the Articles of Confederation. That organizational structure did not work for us, and the result very nearly was the end of the democratic experiment. The United States Constitution saved the day by subordinating the States to the central Federal government. One of the most important elements was the bicameral legislature. In the lower house, Congress, representatives were elected for four year terms by popular vote. The upper house was composed of Senators appointed by the various State governments for staggered six year terms. Congress was to represent the poor, propertyless, and otherwise powerless citizenry. The Senate guaranteed that the states and those with wealth and property would be represented. The two houses acted to check the interests of the other. France had no such checks and there was "The Terror". Of course, that is a very simplistic comparison and there were other major differences that produced the differing results of revolution.

The United States abandoned that wise structure in 1913 with the passage of the XVII Amendment to our Constitution. That Amendment made Senators elected by popular vote, and from that point on the power of the states has faded while the power of those with little property has increased.

If the European nations truely wished to form a single, coherent political state, I would advise a structure similar to that which was found in the United States for over a hundred years.

steissd

I don't know, from what you doubt what I wrote. Especially, since we haven't met and you don't know me personally. (I was ten years old, when I got my first price from a competition by the then European Economic Community [EEC].)

"I'm proud to be a German" is THE wellknown slogan of the neo-nazis and ultra right conservatives.
Did you intend to provoke me personally?

Asherman, let me differ with your interpretation of US constitutional history. The "subordination of the states" you claim was created by the Constitutuion was precisely the issue over which the Civil War was fought. Even before the Civil War, there was the Nullification Controversy in which South Carolina, led by John C. Calhoun, proclaimed that states' rights were sovereign. The issue of ststes' rights was not even settled conclusively in the area of civil rioghts until LBJ passed the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act in the mid-1960s. This has always been the fault line in American constitutional theory. The current Supreme Court is doing its damnedest to give the states more power than they have had in half a century. So the issue is far from settled, and was certainly not settled either as early or as easily as you maintain.