In my opinion the frontier ethos is partly to blame for the souring of American politics.

There has always been a ‘we hate government’ movement in America. It has always lived at the frontier of America.

But the government always ended up moving west and when it does the anti-government crowd moved west too. But there is no frontier any more. I believe this is why the ‘anti-government’ crowd has wandered so far to the Right.

In an aristocratic society such as that represented by the Southern elite’s views the attitude towards those beneath them is, “as long as you do why you’re told and you don’t challenge our power you can do whatever you want to one another.”

This appeals to people whose worldview is that of the American Frontier. Such a society means that as long as they don’t step on the wrong toes they can pretty much do what they want to who they want. The American West does have a tradition of rugged independence, but it also has a tradition of violence, cruelty and even ethnic cleansing.