Why are some US states protesting and others happy to be locked down?

Sometimes the red and blue states in America feel culturally miles apart writes Holly Baxter. While us east-coasters remain hunkered down for the greater good, 35 states are starting to open up – in Georgia you can even go bowling again

Armed protesters in Lansing, Michigan, provide security as demonstrators take part in an ‘American Patriot Rally’ (AFP/Getty)

As New York remains under strict lockdown, with face masks legally required for visits to the grocery store, the rest of the US is responding to a wave of anti-quarantine protests. Last week, us east-coasters looked on in horror as armed men, some of whom were brandishing AK-47s, stormed the statehouse in Michigan in an attempt to intimidate governors. Lawmakers went to work the next day in bulletproof vests. Although these were touted as “peaceful” protests by Americans across the south and midwest, it seems disingenuous to refer to something as wholly peaceful when the people involved made it clear they could blow any detractors to pieces with a casual movement of the finger.

New York feels a world away from states like Michigan when such incidents hit the news: although guns are allowed across the US, state-by-state laws vary wildly and you’d never so much as see a civilian openly brandishing a handgun in New York City, when you might very well find a passerby openly carrying an assault rifle in a supermarket or on a college campus in another state. Trump voters are right when they say that red states are often culturally miles apart from blue states, and that’s just one example. There’s a reason why Texas has zero income tax and New York City has income tax comparable to the high rates (by American standards) in the UK: collectivism is the norm here, while states like Texas prize individualism, consumerism and “every man out for himself”.

When will New York open up? That’s the billion-dollar question, again quite literally. New York’s economy is crucial to the survival of the United States