Miles Smith

You don't even have the same sort of diversity of thought in the region in the 18th century, in the 19th century, the 20th or the 21st. that you do in other places. I'll give you a good example. In Virginia, you have a pretty committed secularist like Thomas Jefferson and a pretty devout religious, almost sort of establishmentarian guy like Patrick Henry.

You don't even have the same sort of diversity of thought in the region in the 18th century, in the 19th century, the 20th or the 21st. that you do in other places. I'll give you a good example. In Virginia, you have a pretty committed secularist like Thomas Jefferson and a pretty devout religious, almost sort of establishmentarian guy like Patrick Henry.

You don't have that many committed secularists. in New England in the 18th through 19th centuries. Most everybody's very religious. Now, what changes is the type of religion. You have the development of Unitarianism, but most everybody thinks of religion as kind of being this thing that needs to have the social and civil force of even government behind it.

You don't have that many committed secularists. in New England in the 18th through 19th centuries. Most everybody's very religious. Now, what changes is the type of religion. You have the development of Unitarianism, but most everybody thinks of religion as kind of being this thing that needs to have the social and civil force of even government behind it.

And so it's sort of a question of which religion is the government going to enforce, not whether. And that's why you can see the legacy of that in New England today when it comes to legislation vis-a-vis morality, church, all of that.

And so it's sort of a question of which religion is the government going to enforce, not whether. And that's why you can see the legacy of that in New England today when it comes to legislation vis-a-vis morality, church, all of that.

Yeah. I mean, I think the mass migration into the Sunbelt is something we're not even sure what to think about now. I was born, North Carolina has about six and a half million people and it has 11 million people now. I live in Michigan. When I was born, Michigan had just under 10 million people in it. And today, 40 years later, it has just under 10 million people in it. New England's

Yeah. I mean, I think the mass migration into the Sunbelt is something we're not even sure what to think about now. I was born, North Carolina has about six and a half million people and it has 11 million people now. I live in Michigan. When I was born, Michigan had just under 10 million people in it. And today, 40 years later, it has just under 10 million people in it. New England's

relatively stable too. It's not growing quite as fast as the South is. And so I don't even know if we've got enough information, if we've seen the legacy of this growth long enough to know why do people come? You know, for a lot of people, I always heard it's the weather or the taxes are lower, something like that. I don't know. It's a really good question.

relatively stable too. It's not growing quite as fast as the South is. And so I don't even know if we've got enough information, if we've seen the legacy of this growth long enough to know why do people come? You know, for a lot of people, I always heard it's the weather or the taxes are lower, something like that. I don't know. It's a really good question.

I wonder if there's sort of these broader cultural differences. I mean, I know that people consider New England to be somewhat insular. It's a hard place to sort of break into. I think maybe the Boston area is an exception to that. But I was just in Connecticut. I'll give you an anecdote. I was in Connecticut this summer. That was in Enfield, Connecticut. And I'm from North Carolina.

I wonder if there's sort of these broader cultural differences. I mean, I know that people consider New England to be somewhat insular. It's a hard place to sort of break into. I think maybe the Boston area is an exception to that. But I was just in Connecticut. I'll give you an anecdote. I was in Connecticut this summer. That was in Enfield, Connecticut. And I'm from North Carolina.

I love Chick-fil-A. It's just, you know, I'm a southerner. And so I was like, oh, there's a Chick-fil-A. So I'll stop in a Chick-fil-A. And the first thing I noticed is it was very quiet. People don't talk to each other quite as much. There's not the same type of public conversation. The South is a pretty loud place.

I love Chick-fil-A. It's just, you know, I'm a southerner. And so I was like, oh, there's a Chick-fil-A. So I'll stop in a Chick-fil-A. And the first thing I noticed is it was very quiet. People don't talk to each other quite as much. There's not the same type of public conversation. The South is a pretty loud place.

I studied abroad in Italy and I never was that alien because I was like, oh, well, this house is kind of loud. Italy is kind of loud. That was so different than in the Chick-fil-A in New England I went to. It was quieter. People don't necessarily look at each other as much. It was just very clear to me that like this is a different type of place than the one I grew up in.

I studied abroad in Italy and I never was that alien because I was like, oh, well, this house is kind of loud. Italy is kind of loud. That was so different than in the Chick-fil-A in New England I went to. It was quieter. People don't necessarily look at each other as much. It was just very clear to me that like this is a different type of place than the one I grew up in.

Maybe insular is not the best term, but something was different.

Maybe insular is not the best term, but something was different.

Yeah, for sure.

Yeah, for sure.