Hmm, the topic of pro-American and un-American regions of the country is making the rounds. This seems to fade into and out of the national discourse every so often. This latest wave is largely the result of Sarah Palin effusing about how much she loves speaking in supposedly pro-American small town U.S.A. And then there's GOP candidate Michele Bachmann floating the idea that the media should investigate politicians to identify which ones are pro-American and which ones aren't.

Obviously the density of patriotic sentiment can't be constant across the nation. The next question is, what is the variability of this sentiment? And then how do you measure it? Would we look at military enrollment density, such as the Heritage Foundation did when it asked, "Who Bears the Burden?"

But then you have to ask, why does it matter?