http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/29/opinion/29krugman.html
I would like to add to his comment that the US is unlike most other developed countries in its demographic structure. Most other developing countries are predominantly urban. about every fourth French lives in Paris or its suburbs (aka Ile de France), two out three Canadians live in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa or Vancouver. However only about 5% of the US population lives in two major urban (political and economic) centers - New York and DC, and if you add LA, Chicago and Boston, that number raises to paltry 10 or so percent.
As Kelley's signature line aptly summaries it, this is a Podunk nation of pious hicks. Their views were suppressed during the cold war era (cf. Kennedy sending the federal troops to suppressed populist racism in the South) because US elites felt heat from the Soviets (the Sputnik, and also championing anti-colonial causes) - i.e. when there still WAS an alternative to the US system.
Today, TINA o or so we are told. Whether it is true or not, the elites feel that way and act accordingly. There is no need to keep the homegrown Podunk fundamentalism cum bigotry under the rug anymore. What is more, appealing to these sentiments can bring a political success, as evidenced inter alia by Bush presidential campaigns. So the cat, or rather the forgotten Menckenian Boobus Americanus is out of the bag again, and boy, eager to make up for all those years spent in the basement relegated there by the liberal elites.
Prepare for a bumpy ride. We have not seen the worst of it yet.
Wojtek