Regionalism is alive and well.

[hedgehog]

Denying it is like denying that classism doesn't exist. I live in New York, and I hear over and over again about how companies move to Southern states because taxes are lower and regulations are less onerous. Just check out the ads placed by Southern states looking to attrct industry. At the same time, my federal taxes go (guess where!) to Southern states. To add insult to injury, the alternative minimum tax means I lose my deduction for state income taxes!

I love this place and so do my children, but I'll be amazed if any of them finds a job within a hundred miles. Devotion to the land and to family and neighborhood doesn't count if you're a Northerner. All this week I've heard people saying that we have to help Louisiana and Mississippi get back up on their feet after the hurricane. I sympathize, but where is the outcry for the slow motion disaster that has hit the Rust Belt the last 30 years?

To give you one example; ask yourself how much federal money has gone into levees over the years. Now ask yourself how much state and local governments put up each year, year after year, to keep roads open and repaired despite freezing temperatures every year in the North. We handle it and handle it well, so no one notices it. If the roads went unplowed for a couple of days though, it'd be a disaster.