The Five Regions
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The Western Crescent
The Western Crescent is a curve-shaped region of transplants and indigenous people, both historically and contemporaneously. It contains two of the most progressive cultures from U.S. history, the formerly Spanish-conquered Western Greater New Mexico, and of course the West Coast, which was settled by former New Englanders during the early 1800s. It is likely also the region containing the largest number of rural progressives, dispelling largely on its own the notion that progressivism or leftism is solely an urban phenomenon. Due to its proximity and shared politics, along with its large East and South Asian populations, Hawaii is included in this region. While there are more moderate parts of this region in parts of Montana, Southern Oregon, Arizona, and Southern Colorado, the market, infrastructure, and ecology make for a cohesive region.
The Great Interior and Greater Panhandle
The Great Interior is a primarily question mark-shaped region in the center of the country, connected to the Greater Florida Panhandle via two corridors, one through Winston County, Mississippi, and one through Twiggs County, Georgia. It contains a patchwork of cultures that represent conservative and alt-right politics. By far the most rural and agrarian region, it was initially settled primarily by Englishmen and Scotch-Irish from the so-called borderlands of the United Kingdom, and by the slave lords of England by way of Barbados. The vast majority of the latter group are doing their best to be better than the historical blight of their ancestors’ enslavement of African prisoners, and that work should be respected. Alaska rounds out the region, adding to a strong libertarian streak that promises the formation of new political coalitions.
The New Southeast
The New Southeast is almost entirely ignored by state boundaries, threading a bit of an ethnogeographic needle through Hispanic-Latino parts of Southern Texas, up Interstate 35 to Dallas, with twists and turns up the Mississippi River from Cajun New Orleans and east to “Music City” Nashville, then across the soil-rich so-called Black Belt region through the middle of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South and North Carolina, and also down the east coast of Florida all the way to the Keys. The New Southeast is a profoundly moderate region, as revealed by the slim win in Georgia and a narrow loss in Florida in 2020, with some deep blue pockets in big cities like Atlanta, Miami, Austin, etc.
The Northeastern Megalopolis
The Northeastern Megalopolis is the region representing the greatest concentration of metropolitan areas in the U.S, and home to the earliest settlements upon which 9 of the 13 colonies were established. More beholden to the establishment of the Democratic Party, this region is nevertheless a close second on the progressive side of the spectrum to the Western Crescent. Stretching from Portland, Maine, through Boston, Philadelphia, New York, D.C., and Richmond to the Research Triangle and Greensboro, North Carolina, the Northeastern Megalopolis also carries with it a large assortment of commuter towns and smaller cities to round out and ground the region.
The Northern Freshwaterlands
The Northern Freshwaterlands, named for its source of water in the Great Lakes and several rivers, is increasingly becoming a patchwork of center-left cities surrounded by center-right suburbs and exurbs. This region is the most unswayed by party attempts at subjugation, hence a slim win for Donald Trump in 2016 and a slim win for Joe Biden in 2020. It was initially settled by three culturally tolerant groups that have anchored the U.S.’s characteristic plurality for centuries: the Puritans, the Pilgrims, and the Quakers. It is also likely the region most disillusioned by current politics, but nevertheless a necessary constituency to preserve for the sake of the country’s future.