has the theory that the differences between N and S America is that the Spaniards came to the New World looking for loot and plunder. They wanted to make their stash and then get back home so they could live in style. They didn't bring their families because they had no intention of staying here. As it turned out, most wound up staying here and marrying the native women.

North America was settled by religious fanatics and political outcasts. They had no intention of ever going back, and they brought their families with them. They planned to stay from the start.

Rudy feels that somehow this has led to the relative political and civic stability of Northern Anglo-Saxon America compared to the fractured and anarchic Southern Hispanic continent. He also feels this may have had something to do with the different responses of both continents to the post African slavery period.

I tend to be suspicious of sweeping generalizations like this one, but I must confess this one makes a lot of sense.

Then again, maybe its just a difference between the Catholic and Protestant view of the world.