I get that that's the message in all of these pieces but a lot of the pieces that I've read were written by those coastal elites - so it's more your peers pointing to problems in other places instead of us saying you abandoned us.

In my boots on the ground opinion (and I'm mixing several responses in one so forgive me if this is tangential to this thread), you're right, you're not responsible for us. It's not your duty to send us money, it's not your duty to spend your time, and it's not your duty to bus down here and make change. Because I do believe that even the liberal among us are still states rights people, and it's our duty to make our states right.

Now, we still have a lot of racists and bigots and close minded people around here - I hang out with them every holiday - and we know that their stances run deep. But they share our blood and we share their history and our salvation is tied up in one another.

It's why we like our bibles down here - we're a nation whose tradition of division and hate is so deep in our being that the only solution is to be born again wholly in love, and we'll latch on to whatever we can to help show us how to do that.

So, that's my ramble.