A Moral Redoubt in the Heartland
The Culture of the Plains States
by Anthony Harrigan
Many contemporary travelers in the heartland region have noted the quality of life in the Plains states, a quality of life that is markedly superior to the metropolitan centers on the coastal rim. A reporter for The Economist called attention to this in an unsigned article published on Sept. 5, 1992. His route took him from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Rapid City, South Dakota. Writing from Victoria, Kansas, he said that “Victoria is the ideal place to consider the small town values that politicians now talk so much of.” To some extent, he said,
the politicians are onto something. That coarsening of American culture that is so evident in the cities . . .
