BCS leagues expanding - yeah?

I am curious about this because I turned down a couple jobs in South Carolina (in large part because Northern Virginia neighborhoods had more sidewalks and I like to walk).

I know that the political history of South Carolina until about 1960 is that the low country elites fought the upcountry populists. The upstate hill country had not developed a plantation economy like the flatlands of the south. The laws that were used to exclude blacks from voting were also used to exclude poor whites who could not pass aliteracy test either. One benefit of the Voting rights Act is that a lo pf poor whites in some states got the vote also.

But I thought that since the Great Society support among the white population had evaporated in both the upcountry and downstate. One reason for this is that Southern whites have long been more culturally conservative. A second is a historical hostility to the actions of the federal government that date back to John C. Calhoun and nullification.

Forgive me for making sweeping generalizations but the limitations of space and my knowledge force me to.

 

That's way too deep for me to answer.
I was making more general comments about people's attitudes, their cuisine, the music they listen to, the vehicles they drive, architecture, the way their lawns look, the clothes they wear, etc.
I honestly don't know how to explain it, and I doubt I could even if I did. It's one of those things that if you know, you can identify it.
I'm certain it's the same in every state except the tiniest.

 

I can only speak for about the past 25 or so years (and don't know enough about Charleston to give an informed opinion, not that it seems to matter here), but Upstate remains me of the Greensboro-High Point-Winston Salem area in how it's diversified away from King Tobacco and peach trees. Mainly Scots-Irish immigrants moved to the mountains so the population is very white and very Protestant compared to coastal South Carolina. I think it's maybe 65-75 percent white? (Except for the Germans who moved with BMW and Michelin. Boy, they love their Oktoberfest.)

Upstate has undergone a transformation from textiles and agriculture-based economy to manufacting and industry once BMW and Michelin placed facilities between Greenville and Spartanburg. Fujifilm then showed up, as has Bausch and Lomb, Dunlop, IBM, GE, adidas and Freightliner. According to Wiki, the Upstate is the seventh-most desirable place in the country for economic development. Closer to Georgia, there are big Husqvarna and Sandvik plants.

Obviously, Clemson still graduates a whole lot of farmers but now has a top automotive engineering program as well. Also Greenville Tech, Furman, Wofford and Presbyterian. It's not a sleepy little bunch of hick towns any more. Now there are a bunch of big hick towns instead.

I'm always amazed at how much the I-85 corridor has grown since we moved from Raleigh in 2001. There's very little open space between Atlanta and Charlotte now (if you ignore the freeway exits with the firework stores and the topless truck stops). It'll be one big megapolis by the time I'm in assisted living, which coincidentally will be the time they get road construction completed on I-85.

 

From everything I've read from legit news sources, fanboi clickbait sites and the like, I can only conclude that nobody knows what the hell is going on. The Pac-4 should merge with the Mountain West and the American Athletic Conference and form the We're As Big As Fuck Conference and kick the shit out of everybody.

 

I would root the hell out of the WABAFC!

 

My understanding is that Upstate did not have enough flat land for plantations. So it was left to the small farmers who were less likely to own slaves, Hence fewer blacks. The same thing happened in North Carolina and, especially Tennessee.

And I don't know how it is possible to ignore the topless truck stops and fireworks stands in South Carolina.

 

I have no idea if Walter Russell Mead is still in good odor, or if his postulates have been discredited within academia. I think you're speaking of his Jacksonians, though. That was a very prevalent ethic among those Scots-Irish who built farms in those hills and fought to scratch out a living.

The Four Schoolmasters

 

To some of this, I can speak with authority.
Yes, the mountain regions of Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia were settled by Scotts-Irish because when they got off the boat in 1700s, they were told to keep walking by the coastal plantation owners. That probably still plays a factor into the cultural differences between the eastern and western regions of the various states.

Wait, what... topless truck stops? How have I missed this?
That would totally beat Buc-ee's.

 

That was pretty much Georgia as well, although there were few mountains close by. Those people were land hungry and headed west pretty much as soon as they could figure out how to deal with the Indians. Note that "Jacksonian" refers to Andy Jackson, which gives you insight into what "deal with the Indians" meant.

 

Maybe not.

 

At my age, sometimes a soggy brisket might be better for me than sagging breasteses, but I am a fan of both.

But seriously, y'all, I need names, addresses, and hours of operation.
It might change my affection for stopping to see Pedro.

 

Or Pedro could step up his game. Think of the billboards we'd see.