[–] Joe_McCarthy ago (edited ago)
We just got overrun by European immigrants. The South didn't have to worry about that as much because no one wanted to move there.
That has changed a lot in the New South. Its British ethnic population has been diluted somewhat post-WW2 and like the nation in general now is being overrun by Third Worlders.
On a personal level not living back east probably contributed more to me having a more national identity. I wouldn't want a parochial identity feeling obligated to constantly defend lost causes like the, erm, lost cause. Plus my accent isn't as bad as it would be if I were in, say, Boston.