“The American identity and the current cultural or political ideologies can’t be understood without knowing that there’s never been one America, but rather several Americas, each with their own characteristics…” (Colin Woodard. Regional Cultures Shape U.S. Society and American Life: bgindependentmedia.org).

America is a nation of immigrants. Different ethnic and racial groups came to America, settling in distinct regions. If you’ve ever been to a community meeting, you will see that those who know each other tend to sit with each other. Why? Because people are more comfortable with people they know rather than with strangers. That’s why we have Chinatowns. That’s why Enumclaw was settled largely by Scandinavians.

Scandinavians came to the western side of the Cascades because the environment resembled their homeland. Those who live in western Washington moved there because that’s what they were used to. Spaniards settled the American Southwest because the geography resembled Spain and northern Mexico. That’s why Spaniards didn’t go north of California.

In most cases, like attracts like. But some came to this country as slaves. They had no choice where they lived.

Each immigrant group brought their own attitudes and philosophies with them. These attitudes were shaped by their past environments and present realities. The differences between the various immigrant groups can be roughly divided into two worldviews: Those who value community versus those who value individualism.

Some immigrants had to rely on themselves due to isolation and harsh conditions. These groups emphasized self-reliance and rugged individualism.

“The far west is passively individualistic. Its libertarian frontier ethos, tempered by the fact that in the extreme conditions and isolation of that region when it was settled in the mid and late 19th century, people really had to rely on one another to survive or on massive infrastructure deployed externally, railroads or snow, roof dams, irrigation systems, trans water basin and water transfers from corporations or the federal government just to survive” (Woodard).

Those who settled in Massachusetts in the 1630s were “a bunch of radicals who thought they were creating a new society. The emphasis was on perfecting earth, society, food, social engineering, individual self-denial, the common good and the aggressive assimilation of outsiders” (Woodard).

My wife and I just came back from visiting a friend in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Those who settled there came because Tuberculosis was believed to be cured by a dry climate. Many gays came to Santa Fe to escape persecution for their sexuality. That’s why Santa Fe is famous for its artistic and cultural emphasis. The term used was to be “Santa Fe’d”.

“What transpired was a humanitarian group that thought they were on a mission from God and everyone had to work with a plan, and another highly individualistic group who didn’t trust institutions because of their own historical experience” (Woodard).

The issue of masking during the COVID 19 pandemic clearly shows these differing life views:

“The regional effects go beyond elections and can also be seen in how people responded to a public health crisis. The individual liberty sections’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic was to resist mask-wearing and vaccines… The vaccination rates were double in the areas prone to common good ideology.”

‘You see these regional divides though, not just in COVID-19, but in the prevalence of all sorts of diseases,’ including diabetes, obesity and even life expectancy” (Woodard).

Woodard noted “These differences can be observed in regard to the prevalence of gun violence: “Whether looking at per capita rate for gun deaths, ‘the strongly communitarian regions outperform the individualistic ones,’ he said. “The divides are real. They are persistent, and they matter today.”

The current divisions in the country are based upon varying attitudes that go back to our founding as a nation. These cultural and philosophical differences can be dangerous, but there is a greater danger.

“’The political battle now is no longer over the best way to achieve the American experiment to secure those promises in the Declaration of Independence, but whether or not we’ll continue to have a democracy at all,’ Woodard said.”