The Confederacy Outflanks Again

Where freedom reigns, commerce can flourish . . .

Below is a ranking for the Best/Worst states for business for 2012. Note that 8 of the top 10 hail from the old Confederacy. Note that 8 of the worst 10 hail from Yankee land. As I've pointed out before, though the South lost the WBTS, it continues to overwhelm Northern states culturally. As is apparent from the chart below, the South also overwhelms the North commercially. This is due, in large measure, to what WBTS historian David Blight has called (both the old and the new South): "the greatest conservative resistance to federal authority in American history."

Note that California, which often serves as the womb for every whacky leftist idea and experiment in the United States, is dead last. Coincidence? Hardly. Utopian, Marxist ideas work in cubicles, classrooms, and faculty lounges, but not in the real world. Note that the vast majority of leading states are governed by, relatively speaking, conservative principles. Apparently, "resistance to federal authority" has its benefits. Conservatism, culturally and economically, still reigns in the South.

It's further worth noting that a number of leftists in Congress desire to impose - federal authority - union membership nationally (Card Check legislation), yet as the source article points out: "It may be no accident that most of the states in the top 20 are also right-to-work states."

Taken alone, this information might be classified as "anecdotal." But the specifics are simply "too" coincidental. The South fought, in part, for economic reasons. Evidently, in losing, they have somehow still managed to outflank the victors. Stonewall Jackson must be smiling.

(Thanks to Lindsay for sharing this with me.)

RANK	STATE	2011 RANK	1-YEAR  CHANGE
1	Texas	1	0
2	Florida	3	1
3	North Carolina	2	-1
4	Tennessee	4	0
5	Indiana	6	1
6	Virginia	7	1
7	South Carolina	8	1
8	Georgia	5	-3
9	Utah	9	0
10	Arizona	13	3
11	Colorado	12	1
12	Nevada	10	-2
13	Louisiana	27	14
14	Delaware	16	2
15	North Dakota	21	6
16	Wyoming	14	-2
17	Oklahoma	11	-6
18	Idaho	19	1
19	South Dakota	15	-4
20	Wisconsin	24	4
21	Alabama	26	5
22	Iowa	22	0
23	Kansas	25	2
24	Missouri	23	-1
25	Kentucky	17	-8
26	New Hampshire	18	-8
27	Nebraska	20	-7
28	Montana	28	0
29	Arkansas	30	1
30	Mississippi	38	8
31	Alaska	31	0
32	Maine	36	4
33	New Mexico	32	-1
34	West Virginia	42	8
35	Ohio	41	6
36	Minnesota	29	-7
37	Washington	34	-3
38	Vermont	40	2
39	Rhode Island	35	-4
40	Maryland	37	-3
41	Hawaii	43	2
42	Oregon	33	-9
43	Pennsylvania	39	-4
44	Connecticut	44	0
45	New Jersey	47	2
46	Michigan	46	0
47	Massachusetts	45	-2
48	Illinois	48	0
49	New York	49	0
50	California	50	0

Read the source article here.

Readers might also be interested in this post: The Last Bastion