American Politics partly explained

Many of the first European colonists saw the western hemisphere not just as the New World be also as a New Eden. As in the Bible story, temptation and original sin was waiting for the builders of that "shinning city upon the hill". In short who was going to do the hard work?

Slavery was a long honored institution for finding cheap labor and prior to Columbus's voyage of discovery there was an emerging trade with West Africa, supplying Europe with gold ivory and some slaves. It wasn't immediately obvious to enslave large numbers of Africans to do the heavy work back then. The Spanish tried to enslave the Native Americans but too many of them died of European diseases. British sugar growers in the West Indies first used Irish convicts but many of them would escape and blend into European population of the growing towns, ports and cities.

The African slave (once incorporated into the plantation system) had a couple of economic advantages, his skin color was an immediate identification of his place in society and Africans had a small but noticeable resistance to malaria which killed almost half the European colonists within a few years of arrival. Malaria had presence in the American Deep South up to the 1950's. One reason why slavery didn't take root north of Philadelphia had something to do with the pattern of disease which in turn was effected by the weather. A hard freezing winter killed off the parasite that caused malaria.  

One of the greatest dividing lines bet Liberals and Conservatives was slavery, the aftermath of slavery and the civil rights movement to end the vestiges of slavery. As an historical truth there really isn't a Democratic or Republican party -it's all just progressive or conservative forces pushing an agenda. The Republicans of Lincoln's days represented the wild radicalism of not only abolishing slavery but also harnessing industrial growth for the betterment of the society at large. The Democrats were the party of white privilege and social conservatism. This was reversed during the New Deal where Democrats became the progressive party and the Republicans retreated to its most conservative elements until Nixon develops his "Southern Strategy". Maybe one of the most cynical and shameless political moves of the 20th century. Nixon proved that people will voted based on their prejudices instead of the economic self interest when Republicans convinced  millions of social conservatives to change their party affiliation.

Enough history. What I really want to talk about is the weather.

My theory is hot weather helps promote conservatism. When it is hot what is the last thing you want? -Another warm body sitting right next to. When the weather is hot you are willing to push away your fellow human being for the sake of comfort. Even when you do find some relief form the heat, that relief is usually limited. The body heat from a room full of people can defeat the work of air conditioner. There is only so much room in a pool and how many people can stand in front of a fan? Ice cream isn't cheap. Most the solutions are either individual or exclusive. Some one has to make a choice of who is worthy enough to share in the comfort? 

So if hot weather promotes conservatism then I believe cold weather promotes liberalism. When it's cold outside only natural to get close to another person and share your body heat. Even if you were in an unheated house two or more people can keep each other warm. This kind of close contact knits people together.

For ages people huddled around campfires and stoves. Not only did they find warmth but they shared food and stories. Some Anthropologists theorize that civilization really started by early people huddled together around a fire. Could civilization really be a liberal conspiracy?

One of the big questions is will global warming (ooops I meant global climate change) change the the balance of world politics? Right now Canada is much more liberal than the US and all the Scandinavian countries are more liberal than the rest of Europe. As the temperature rises what will it mean for political discourse? Just keep in mind Fascism started in sunny Italy and remained in Spain for another 30 after the end of World War 2. Will it be another hot summer in 2013?