ursus arctos wrote:
I'd agree with both Amor's specifics and Renart's longer view on the "anti-government" question, though it is also worth looking at the regional aspect of the question.
The South and West have been consistently anti-government for virtually their entire history (notwithstanding their implicit reliance on essential public works like the Tennessee Valley Authorty, Western irrigation and the Interstate Highway System).
The shift in population and political power to such regions (and away from more government-friendly northern urban centres) was bound to bring with it a resurgence of anti-government sentiment.
That said, demographic shifts (particularly the growth of the Latino population in Texas and the West) will tend to temper those attitudes going forward.
Except that Mexican-Americans share their Mexican cousin's apathy to government as well.
You have to realize that Northern Mexico is the Mexican frontier and as such, share a dislike for government. It is the Mexican "wild west" figuratively, if not literally.
Not only is it a group of people who believe in pulling yourself up from the bootstrap is important, it is also a people who are extremely religious and tend to dislike black people and homosexuals.
This is where the future of the Republican party lies, if they weren't too xenophobic and myopic to realize it.
PS
They also hate government in Southern Mexico as well, especially the indigenous groups. They tend to be real skeptical of politicians and state power, as most indigenous people in North America tend to be.
