Really? I think you’re out of touch w/ reality. Southerners make out as though they’re some how better than the rest of the country. The fact is they’re no better or worse. Sadly, like you, they haven’t measured themselves rightly.
It is you who are out of touch with reality.
There are degrees of corruption, and if you cannot see that NJ, NY and MA are MORE corrupt than TX, VA and, for that matter most other places in the country, then you are not only out of touch, you are blind and deaf.