Nisbett
argues that many of the cultural traits of the modern South can be
traced back to the heritage of the population's descendants. "The
Scots-Irish were a herding people, while people from the north [of the
U.S.] were English, German and Dutch farmers. Herding people are tough
guys all over the world, and they are that because they have to
establish that you can't trifle with them, and if you don't do that
then you feel like you're at risk for losing your entire wealth, which
is your herd. This creates a culture of honor, and the Scots-Irish are
very much a culture of honor, and they carried that with them from the
Deep South to the Mountain South, and then out through the western
plains."
According to Nisbett, the Scots-Irish were a warlike
people distrustful of a powerful central government, a result of the
herder mentality as well as centuries of fighting, first against the
English and Irish, then against Native Americans, then against the
Yankees. As he points out, "The Scots-Irish are very much
overrepresented in the military ... and you find them there because
they're a fighting people."
The Scots-Irish also tend to be
devoutly religious. While the Scots-Irish were originally mostly
Calvinists, many are now Baptists, the largest Protestant denomination
in the U.S., while others are Pentecostals or belong to other
evangelical churches. Sen. Webb argues in his book that the "twin
forces of Calvinism and populism came together to create ... the embryo
of what would in the twentieth century be called America's Bible Belt."
The
states that are dominated by the Scots-Irish and Scots-Irish culture
have voting patterns atypical to the rest of the U.S. Voters there,
once solidly New Deal Democrats, have been voting increasingly for
Republicans at the national level since the 1960s, as the Democratic
Party has grown increasingly socially liberal and dovish. It is worth
noting that many Scots-Irish broke for George Wallace's militarism,
tough on crime message and racism before they moved on to vote for
Nixon and Reagan, although Wallace's supporters tended to be in the
Deep South and not in the parts of Central Appalachia that had
supported the Union during the Civil War. Wallace did poorly in West
Virginia, for instance.
Republicans have had success in actively
courting these voters. As Sen. Webb writes, "The GOP strategy is
heavily directed toward keeping peace with this culture, which every
four years is seduced by the siren song of guns, God, flag, opposition
to abortion and success in war."
Still, in many of these areas
Democrats have done well, at least on the local level. Arkansas, which
voted for McCain over Obama by a 59%-39% margin, still has two
Democratic senators and more Democratic than Republican House members,
as does West Virginia, where McCain beat Obama 56%-43%. Emory Professor
Merle Black: "They [southern Democrats] are moderate to conservative
Democrats, they're not liberal Democrats, and voters really see a huge
difference between national elections and state and local elections,
especially in these places like Arkansas, parts of Tennessee, Virginia,
most of western North Carolina ... when the national Democrats come in
and run very liberal programs, most of these local Democrats put some
distance between themselves and the national candidates."