Results Annalysis

Reproductive choice- 
Cultural traits influential to this topic: Personal sovereignty, Government intrusion, (religious) tradition, social engineering, "greater good". Poor scores can reflect both preventative action and lack of resources/ proactive law.

The Left Coast-
Every state in with the majority of  it's population in the left coast received an A or A+ rating for reproductive choice from NARAL, with California and Washington receiving the highest scores of any other state. The left coast believes in personal fulfillment and exploration, so it's no surprise that they, with their progressive political and civil ideas, would support a woman's autonomy over her own life.

The Far West-
The Far West has an inconclusive scramble of scores ranging from A- to F. The F's are Idaho and Utah, which are Mormon majority states- a culture that values very traditional roles for women and families and have a strong belief that a large number of children must be born in order to trigger Jesus’ second coming. (Woodard almost set apart the Mormon region as their own nation.) When interpreting the other states' scores, we can guess that on this point they have interpreted their value of autonomy in very different ways, Montana (A-) and New Mexico (A-) granting it through lack of regulation, and Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah excising their states' independence from the fed.

El Norte-
Although mostly politically democratic, El Norte also values traditional family. This tension has earned El Norte's only population-majority state of Arizona a D. This is probably exacerbated by half of the state being geographically Far West, and a lack of will to provide such resources

The Midlands-
The midland's lack of "ideological purity" is certainly apparent in it's NARAL scores. Scores range from Maryland's A (second highest score on the map) to both Dakotas Fs. Since midlanders are skeptical of government, they are probably far less willing to pay into it for something they either don't feel strongly about or dislike. 

Greater Appalachia-
Woodard's definitions of Greater Appalachian values are not reflected in it's mostly failing scores.
"Individual liberty and personal sovereignty" are supposedly two of the most defining traits, but it's highest score was West Virginia's B. Perhaps these traits are more applicable to men for them.

Yankeedom-
Yankeedom received mostly high scores and no failing scores. (It's lowest scores were in border states) This lines up neatly with their belief in the ability of the Government to improve lives (in this case by providing services). 

New Netherland-
As would be expected, both New Netherland states received high scores (A-'s). This lines up with their "freedom of inquiry" value.

Tidewater-
All very low scores. The second lowest nation, after The Deep South. This lines up with their values of Trust in Authority and Tradition (both being traits that foster fundamentalist religion).

The Deep South-
As previously stated, the lowest score of all the nations. That is because it is the "least democratic" and power is jealously guarded by Good Ol' Boys. The minority of black democrats cannot sway this outcome.

New France-
New France's tiny geographical region is surrounded and heavily influenced by The Deep South, so it's not too surprising that it's only American state Louisiana, received an F.

First Nation-
Alaska, First Nation's only American state, received a surprising A-. First Nation tends to value autonomy and self-reliance, along with it's populous neighbor, The Left Coast. Together, they outnumber and dominate the empty, frozen majority of the state. 

Euthanasia
Involuntary Euthanasia is illegal in all of the United States, but Physician-Assisted Suicide is governed on a state-by-state basis. Also decided State-by-State is the legality of removing life support on comatose patients by order of the patient's will or families. Though this is not a valid topic in every nation, it is very telling of some cultural regions. 

The Left Coast-
The Left Coast is most supportive of this concept. Two of the three Left Coast states, Oregon and Washington were the first to make Physician-Assisted Suicide legal. California allows the removal of life-support and attempted to legalize Physician-Assisted Suicide with a narrow defeat. This is indicative of the Left Coast's trust in Individuals' decisions about themselves and also their trust in Government and institutions. They trust that the government or hospital isn’t going to abuse the law and euthanize them against their will. 

The Far West-
Montana allows Doctor Assisted Suicide. This could be interpreted as a reflection of ultimate self-governance. 

Greater Appalachia-
Greater Appalachia once again defies it's supposed values with the courts of Texas's decision that it is legal to remove the life-support of a comatose patient without the consent of the family or the patient. 

Yankeedom-
Yankeedom claims the most attempts at legalizing Physician-Assisted Suicide, with two out of five state attempts succeeding. This can be interpreted as a clash between their faith in Government to facilitate quality of life and "the pursuit of the "greater good" of the community, even if it means self-denial"- One can't do good for the community if they have chosen to die. 

New Netherland- 
In New York, which is famously progressive, not only is it illegal to commit Physician-Assisted Suicide, but there are explicit anti-assisted suicide statues in place that lay out how a doctor can be punished for aiding a suicide. This was challenged with wide support, but ultimately defeated. This reflects the "not entirely democratic" clause of their mostly liberal values and also the lack of other nations' emphasis on Individualism. 

Gene Theft
Gene Theft is the collecting of DNA of an unwilling subject by the government or any private citizen or company. Although no states protect citizen against the state collecting their DNA, Several protect against individuals doing so.  It is a fairly new concern in the US, so it is revealing to note which states have prioritized this protection of their citizens. (Info collected here)

The Left Coast-
In Oregon, an offender is punishable with jail-time. This is probably a result of The Left Coast value of Individualism combined with it's high-tech mindset.

New Netherland- 
Both New Netherland states punish offenders with jail-time. Although not concerned with protecting the individual from the collective, New Netherland is adamant about protecting citizens from each other, authority being seen as an almost paternal guardian. 

Faith Healing
For this topic, I decided to check the pulse by noting which states granted exemption to child abuse/ neglect laws for parents who chose faith healing over medical intervention for sick children. This demonstrates Individual Sovereignty vs. the good of children as a whole. One important caveat, however, is that some of these states have convicted parents when the withholding of medical treatment lead to the child's unnecessary death. Nations with states with legal exemptions are noted.

The Left Coast-
Two of the three left coast states have exemptions. This is surprising, when you consider a majority of the population lives in secular, educated cities, but not so surprising when you refer back to their values. The Left Coast's commitment to Individualism and self-exploration applies here too. They encompass the freedom to live one's life within whatever spirituality one sees fit. In reality, trying to cure advanced Type I diabetes with prayer isn't all that different from trying to cure it with herbs and yoga. Perhaps the Left Coast hopes that with it's high education rates, it's citizens will make the best decision for their children.

The Far West-
Similar to it's neighbor, The Left Coast, The Far West values self-reliance, so it's not a surprise that they would want to believe in their ability to cure their children without the medical complex (which is probably a little too close to a government complex for their tastes) and that state governments would seek to punish them less harshly for trying to do so.
  
The Midlands-
The border states of Kansas and Iowa have exemptions on the books. This topic doesn't particularly strike a chord with their listed values, but does strum at the skepticism toward government.

Greater Appalachia-
With it's "deep commitment to individual liberty and personal sovereignty" Greater Appalachia clocks in with the most support- six out of eight states. 

Yankeedom-
A surprising and, in my opinion, contradictory result is that over half of the states (6/10) had exemptions on the books. According to their values, they should be putting the good of the collective children above that of their parents' freedom to do as they saw fit.

Tidewater-
In Tidewater, we see a surprisingly low number of exemption states. There is just one, to be exact. You would suppose that their religious conservatism would prioritize the power of prayer, but in this case their trust in authority (The government, The Medical Complex, doctors in general) seems to have mostly won out. 

The Deep South-
An unsurprising majority of the states have exemptions. (4/5)

New France-
As with many issues, it's engulfment by The Deep South seems to have swayed this issue toward conservationism.  

First Nation-
First Nation, alongside it's neighboring cousin, The Left Coast, has exemptions on the books. (Probably for similar reasons).

Death Penalty
This issue is probably the most clear cut example of Individualism vs. The Collective Good. If a criminal is a very bad person, and will harm many others (and thus the collective) they should forfeit their life, or so the logic of most states goes. Unfortunately for this project, this is one of the more inconclusive topics. Noted are the Nations with states in which the death penalty is banned.

The Far West- 
New Mexico does not allow the death penalty. With their love-hate relationship with their government masters, it makes sense that they would seek to deny them this ability.

The Midlands-
Also suspicious of government, two Midland's states have banned the death penalty.

Greater Appalachia-
Two Greater Appalachian states, with their commitment to individual liberty and personal sovereignty, have banned the death penalty. It should however be noted that Texas, the execution capital, has a slim population majority in Greater Appalachia.

Yankeedom-
Yankeedom has the largest majority of state bans on the death penalty. (8/10) Of all the nations, Yankeedom is probably the second most expected to trust the government with this power, but that is very much not the case.

 New Netherland-
There is no death penalty allowed in either state. New Netherland is probably the most expected to trust their paternal protector with this power, but the laws are in lock-step against it.

Conclusion:
As we can see, the results aren't a perfect correlation, but they are fairly descriptive of a certain trend: States tend to take political action on subjects that either promote or threaten their values and stay fairly quiet on things that don't do either. This is why we'd often see all or most of the states in a nation take legal action on a certain issue when not a single state in another nation ever saw it reach the legislative floor. NARAL ratings tend to be similar in a nation because they share views about the individual woman vs. tradition/religion/collectivism.

This is all well and good when issues are governed on a state-by-state basis, but when an issue is up for federal debate, regional cultures with contradicting values often clash aggressively. Biopolitical issues are often related to provocative matters like child/parent relationships, the role of women in families/ society, the circumstances of birth and death, etc so it's no surprise that it would strike a nerve with one of the many regional cultures in the US, that would then seek to block it. It leads me to believe that, were a biopolitical issue to be federally decided, it would be unlikely our government could come to a consensus.

With these results in mind, we can start to ponder the intersection of culture and individual factors like goals and personality and understand that there are literally thousands of ways for a person to come to a conclusion inconceivable to others. When one's personal ethics are so strongly influenced by region, one wonders how the "politics" portion in our topic's namesake ever achieves anything in a country as vast as ours.  
 

Research Part II

For faith healing, I've chosen to highlight the Federal Government's policy that providing religious exception to child abuse laws is a state-by-state decision since this topic lies at the intersection of Individual vs Community benefit, Indivual Freedom vs Individual welfare, and Tradition vs Government Intervention.  Here is childwelfare.gov's definition of child abuse and neglect with exceptions explained. One caveat that should be mentioned, however: Even when states grant religious exemptions, the court can still order medical treatment be administered, and parents have been convicted in these states when their children suffer fatal harm from the withholding of medical treatment. (Such as this case).

I'm also omitting the vaccines topic because it's apparently been alive and well since the 18th century and there are as many vaccine adversaries in the UK as the US. It's pretty hard to pin down geographically.

Here is the fully researched spreadsheet (save as to view).

Research Part I

This week, I've organized the states into their Culture Region with a preference for population, since that's what would determine the legality of an issue. I cross-referenced the previously posted cultural regions map and this population map by the US census. I've also collected data on three of my six issues. Here is the Excel chart so far. (save as to view)

For issues, I've settled on Reproductive Choice, Euthanasia, Gene Theft, Faith Healing, Vaccines and (added) Death Penalty since these are easily verifiable, mufti-faceted issues. 

For the issue of abortion, I've decided to use NARAL's rating for each state since it combines all factors such as waiting periods, vaginal ultra-sounds, and so on. (their methodology here.) I've also combined contraception and abortion as issues since they include both in their rating. They have been accused of not being entirely supportive of low-income women and of championing contraception over all other factors (I.E. they were accused of not doing enough to stop forced sterilizations in China and India) but if all I'm trying to summarize is the ease of obtaining contraceptives and abortions in US states, these factors shouldn't effect the quality of the rating. 

In my data so far, things are looking to be pretty homogenous within cultural regions. There are outliers (such as Utah and Idaho where a majority of the population is Mormon. In fact, the author noted he almost made that region it's own nation because the values are so influenced by Mormon conservationism.)When I have finished the table, I will compare the results to the values laid out for the regional cultures and see how certain values effect biopolitical policy.

Bioethics topics

 In this post, I'll be choosing my topics for geographical consideration. I think I'm going to have some difficulty with  states in which the majority of the population live in a small geographical percent of the state (Like Oregon), but I think I can address this issue with county-by-county break-downs on votes for certain issues, and also local journalism. I also considered expanding my inquiry to the areas of Mexico and Canada that are mentioned in Woodard's writings, since much of First Nation and El Norte is outside our borders. But that would require some knowledge of their legal systems so I decided against it.

It'd be good to seek some issues that are legal, and some that are just hotly debated because that will give some insight into the reasoning. I should pick some that are unique to certain states and highly relevant to their culture. It would also be prudent to have a few extra for back-up in case I can't find enough content on specific issues or they are only really relevant to certain states.

Potential topics:

1) Abortion-
I could site the arguments people give and examine how they relate to values based on the cultural region they reside in.
2) Contraception-
This issue would probably be similar to Abortion, with more relevance to Tidewater and the Deep south because of their value of Tradition
3) Euthanasia (Physician-assisted suicide)
This one would probably only be relevant in a few states, but revealing when considering the value of individual freedom vs the value of collectivism.
4) Gene Theft 
Similar to the item above, this may be relevant in only a few states. But very tied-in to their values.
5) Faith Healing (specifically exemptions)
Certain states have exceptions in their child neglect laws that allow parents to forgo medical treatment in favor of Faith Healing. This says quite a lot about culture in terms of the value of religion.
6) GMOs 
Genetically Modified Organisms are obviously not illegal, but they do generate quite a few opinions. This would be a topic about which it would be easy to find many, many arguments online. The only challenge here would be find out where each of these arguments came from, geographically.
7) Spiritual Drug Use
This would be a good topic to address The First Nation since many Native American Tribes used hallucinatory drugs for religious ceremonies and their aren't any attributes listed I can tie to Bioethics. Which states has their culture influenced the laws? State Law often includes exceptions for Native American tribe members.
8) Stem Cell Research Though this topic is ripe with cultural perceptions, are they possible to break down by state? Again, I could look for credible opinion pieces online and track the author to their childhood home.
9) Vaccine controversy 
 This issue is distributed throughout all the cultural regions, I'm sure. I could try and find out where the highest saturation are and tie the individualism to the cultural regions, if that is indeed the case.

Woodard's definitions of cultural nations.

Some important details about Woodard's distinctions:
A nation is a group of people who share— or believe they share— a common culture, ethnic origin, language, historical experience, artifacts, and symbols. Some nations are presently stateless— the Kurdish, Palestinian , or Québécois nations, for instance.

The lines on the map slash through cohesive cultures, creating massive cultural fissures in states like Maryland, Oregon, or New York, whose residents have often found they have more in common with their neighbors in other states than they do with one another.

Definitions of the Nations (highlights added on traits relevant to biopolitics):

Yankeedom was founded on the shores of Massachusetts Bay by radical Calvinists. Most interested in education, Local political control, and the pursuit of the "greater good" of the community, even if it meant self-denial. Yankees have the greatest faith in the potential of government to improve people's lives, see it as an extension of the citizenry. Value social engineering and the middle class. Citizen involvement in government. aggressive assimilation of foreigners. It is centered in New England, ranging from upper New York State to the northern strips of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana , Illinois, and Iowa; parts of the eastern Dakotas; and on up into Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Canadian Maritimes.

New Netherland- the greater New York City area. Values commercial trading, Multi-ethnic, Multi-religious, speculative, materialistic, mercantile, free-trading. Not entirely democratic. Functions much as a city-state. a profound tolerance of diversity, commitment to the freedom of inquiry. Spans New York City, the lower Hudson River, Northern New Jersey, Western Long Island, and Southwestern Connecticut.

Midlands (heartlands)- Pluralistic and organized around the middle-class , ethnic and ideological purity have never been a priority, government has been seen as an unwelcome intrusion, and political opinion has been moderate, even apathetic, extremely skeptical of top-down governmental intervention, began in Pennsylvania, spans southern New Jersey, Northern Delaware, Maryland, Central Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Northern Missouri, Most of Iowa, Eastern half of South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas. Also extends into Canada, in southern Ontario.

Tidewater- Fundamentally conservative. Values respect for authority, tradition. Does not value equality or public participation in politics. Settled by wealthy aristocrats seeking to create a "country gentleman's paradise" who brought along their indentured servants.


Greater Appalachia- this culture had formed in a state of near-constant war and upheaval, fostering a warrior ethic and a deep commitment to individual liberty and personal sovereignty. Intensely suspicious of aristocrats and social reformers.



The Deep South - Founded by Barbados slave lords as a west indies-style society. the least democratic of the nations, a one-party entity where race remains the primary determinant of one’s political affiliations. Spans the southern lowlands, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana, Western Tennessee, Southeastern parts of North Carolina, Arkansas, and Texas

New France- Most overtly Nationalistic of the Nations. Down-to-earth, egalitarian, and consensus-driven, The most liberal voters on the continent. multiculturalism and negotiated consensus are treasured. Spans the lower third of Quebec, Northern and Northeastern Brunswick, Cajun enclaves of Southern Louisiana. (New Orleans being a mix of New France and Deep South)

El Norte- Overwhelmingly Hispanic, straddling the American-Mexican border. Norteños (“ northerners”) have a well-earned reputation for being more independent, self-sufficient , adaptable, and work-centered than Mexicans from the more densely populated hierarchical society of the Mexican core. encompasses south and west Texas, southern California and the Imperial Valley, southern Arizona, most of New Mexico, and parts of Colorado, as well as the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, Coahuila, Chihuahua, Sonora, and Baja California.

The Left Coast- (We know this best as Cascadia, and the author, in fact, mentions this movement. But I'll layout the region as he describes it) A long strip from Monterrey, California to Juneau, Alaska. Includes decidedly four progressive metropolises: San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver B.C. Combines the Yankee good faith in Government and Social reform with a commitment to self-exploration and discovery.


The Far West- Settlement was only possible with the help of large corporations due to lack of natural resources and thus remains an semi-dependant nation. tends to revile the federal government for interfering in its affairs while demanding it continue to receive federal largesse. rarely challenges its corporate masters, Encompasses the interior West, Northern Arizona, interiors of California, Washington, and Oregon, much of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Alaska; portions of Yukon and the Northwest Territories; the arid western halves of the Dakotas, Nebraska , and Kansas; and all or nearly all of Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada.

First Nation- Made up of Indigenous peoples of North America, these people can survive in barren environments on their own terms. First Nation is rapidly taking control of vast portions of what were previously the northern fringes of the Far West, including much of Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Labrador; the entirety of Nunavut and Greenland; the northern tier of Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta; much of northwestern British Columbia; and the northern two-thirds of Québec.

Woodard then goes into how many of these differences- and even the borders of the regions- can be spotted on political strategy maps, dialect charts, county votes, and many other. He writes "California is split into three nations, and the divide is visible, plain as day, on a map of which counties voted for or against same-sex marriage in 2008. " So my inquiry isn't exactly ground-breaking, but I do think it will be interesting to look at it through a bio-politics lens.

All Content on this post:
Woodard, Colin (2011-09-29). American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America (Kindle Locations 105-107). Penguin Group US. Kindle Edition.

 Other notes:

I noticed Woodard's work is suddenly making the rounds on the internet today, which is funny, and makes me talking about this less interesting to my friends. On the up-side, somebody put together a better map, so now I won't have to do that. Perhaps I can check mid-week to see if anyone has made anymore substantial criticisms, seeing as this work has received some more attention.

Obtained Woodard's book and the search for criticisms.

After investigating what grounds Woodward defines regions on, I will try to pick issues that touch on them. For example, if "The importance of children/ roles of women" are one of them, I may choose Birth Control or Abortion.

I just bought the Kindle edition of Woodard's book and will begin scouring it for useful information. I'm mostly going to look for the definitions of the regions and how they effect today's politics, which is an important part of the book.

The most I could find in terms of commentary about Woodard's work is in the form of reviews, which are generally positive. The main criticisms being that small parts of states are left out, his definition of "nation" is too vague, and the historical evidence is over-stretched. But no one is outright disagreeing with his premise or the number of regions, which is what is important to my inquiry.

Articles with criticisms:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/11/05/colin-woodard-s-eleven-nations-shows-a-less-than-united-states.html
http://www.phibetaiota.net/2011/10/review-guest-american-nations-a-history-of-the-eleven-rival-regional-cultures-of-north-america/
 

American Cultural Regions.

I'm happy to report that there already exists a definition and grouping of American sub-cultures, besides "West Coat/East Coast" or "Bible Belt". There is a Professor by the name of David Hackett Fischer that theorized today's United States is made up of four cultural regions based on the nationality and decade of it's settlers. He claims that New England culture comes directly from it's puritan founders between 1629 and 1640, while the Cheapness Bay area is influenced by English cavaliers and their Irish and Scottish servants who came between 1640 and 1675. The Delaware valley was settled mostly by Irish, English and German Quakers in 1675 and 1725, and Fischer claims that this cultural region is vast, spanning from the mid-Atlantic states to the west coast. Lastly, Scottish, Irish, and English settlers from the outlying borderlands of Britain formed the culture of the Upland South, which includes West Texas and the southwest.  (Fischer's book on the subject: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albion%27s_Seed)

Expanding on Fischer's work is a journalist and writer called Colin Woodard. He wrote a book breaking the culture regions into more specific regions and elaborating on their cultural characteristics. They are called: Yankeedom, New Netherland, The Midlands, Tidewater, Greater Appalachia, The Deep South, New France, El Norte, The Left Coast, The Far West and First Nation. According to Woodward, these cultures can transcend countries, as El Norte expands south into Mexican and Alaska shares First Nation culture with parts of Canada. I'm going to try and track down his book and find out more about his definitions of the culture regions.

Additional thoughts: 
-As this may fulfill steps 1 and 2 of my project plan (see previous post) I'm afraid my project may be too short. Maybe I can incorporate some influential people and their positions on biopolitics in each region.

- I'd like to find someway to use to observations I have about American culture that effect Biopolitics. The first is that American morality seems to be highly inconsistent. (Example: Genocide is the worst thing a government can possibly do... Unless, of course, you count the Native American genocide. Then, it's an irritating blemish that most people ignore.) Conservatives seem to care disproportionately more about the well-being of unborn, potential children than that of poor children who are suffering malnutrition.

The second: America worships capitalism like a religion. And an unfortunate side effect of capitalism on over-worked, under-educated people is false promises of simple cures to what ails them. Biotechnology specifically is susceptible to this. The greatest contributer to our expanded lifespans is proper nutrition and safer lifestyles, yet pharmaceutical companies promise to cure everything with pills that come with side effects that seem to be worse than the disease in it's early stages. For example, if someone is suffering high cholesterol, they can first try to address the problem with diet and exercise before it turns into a bigger problem. Simply put: Capitalism fixes things that aren't broken.

-I found this graphic. I'm not sure that it will be useful though. It's more youth culture.