Interesting article. I took note of this:
"Greater Appalachia. Founded in the early eighteenth century by wave upon wave of settlers from the war-ravaged borderlands of Northern Ireland, northern England, and the Scottish lowlands..."
These original settlers would have had reason to mistrust any government imposed on them and would have sought to protect their own interest by what ever means they could gain. After all, it was the governments that created or caused the "war-ravaged borderlands" that they fled from. That mistrust of government has undoubtedly been passed down over the generations.