Aha! But Germany is also a federation. So it's only fair to compare Alabama to Saarland. Oh, wait...
More that the stereotypes people have of Germany/USA are really of Bavaria/Texas (beef, guns, lederhosen), more (small c) conservative, and there are occasional mumbles and grumbles of independence but they don't have any substance to them.
At least, that's what it seems. My grasp of German means there's a game of telephone between reality and my understanding of Bavaria, and I've never even been to Texas so I'm judging them by what people say online.