> Judging what I see in
> central PA (my wife's home state) - which is fairly representative of
> anything outside the SF Bay Area, NYC, Boston, DC areas - it is solidly
> conservative and often bordering on fascism.
Pardon me, but (as a long-term resident of the Philly area who was born in Indiana and lived in various other places, including Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Oregon) I don't think that central PA is typical of everywhere outside the urban areas you mention. I agree that it is solidly conservative and perhaps often bordering on fascism (though I'm not quite sure what the latter is intended to mean), but it is considerably to the right of the general US population, fortunately.
That said, Americans, broadly speaking, are probably more "conservative" politically than most European countries one could name, but I don't think that's because of any American essence. As others have pointed out, immense amounts of effort have been made by the capitalist owning class to propagandize the country. If you look at the early 20th century, it took them a hell of a lot of trouble to squelch the burgeoning working class movement, for example. (At this point, of course, we segue into that perennially favorite topic, "Why isn't there any socialism in the U.S.?")
P.S. -- a heck of a lot of Americans, don't forget, are basically apolitical in most situations -- until a particular ox they have an interest in gets gored. That's what irks a lot of political lefties -- they are stymied by the fact that it's as hard to wake the public up now as it was for Socrates, that horse-fly, to wake up the Athenian horse. But their apolitical-ness, their tendency to go along with whatever is currently happening, means that they act in a _de facto_ conservative way.
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ When I was a little boy, I had but a little wit, 'Tis a long time ago, and I have no more yet; Nor ever ever shall, until that I die, For the longer I live the more fool am I. -- Wit and Mirth, an Antidote against Melancholy (1684)