We get it. It’s cold here in the Midwest.

From Minneapolis to Cleveland, from Fargo, ND to St. Louis, it’s only comfortably warm about four-five months per year – not even enough for the people with true common sense to purchase that nice convertible they’ve always wanted. Heck, even we buy second homes in Florida or Arizona if we can afford it (though that seems more likely today).

The temperature, combined of course with massive job loss due to crumbling industrial areas, seems to have pushed more people away from cities such as Detroit and Chicago, and toward the warmer climates of the South and West, such as Nevada, California and Texas, according to the recent Census figures.

According to the 2010 Census, the city of Detroit fell below 775,000 residents for the first time in decades, and Michigan was the only state to lose population. Chicago, still the third-largest city in America in terms of population, dropped about 200,000 residents, to 2.69 million residents.

We’ve faced tough times. And yes, we’ve heard all the jokes. Last person in the Midwest, turn out the lights. Want to buy a Midwest house? How much you got in your wallet?

But we’re still here. We’re used to toughness.

The Big Three is still here. Ford and Fiat-partnered Chrysler are both still headquartered near Detroit, and General Motors even made the leap to make the city’s largest icon, the Renaissance Center along the Detroit River, its home base. Car sales are up again. Automotive might in the Midwest, while idled down, is still going strong, and could get stronger with electric vehicle purchases looming in the next decade.

Downtown Chicago, with almost 130 million square feet of office space, is still stealing headquarters from other more-prosperous cities. Ask Boeing, the Onion newspaper and yes, the President – for the first time ever, a sitting president’s reelection campaign will be run from a city outside of Washington, DC.

Midwest equals blue collar, people used to hard work, the builders, machinists and growers of America. The West has Bill Gates, we have Henry Ford. The South has sunny days, we have character-building season changes.

So the Census figures aren’t a surprise. We’re not for everyone.

But if the nation needs a backbone, we’re it. As the country struggles from the banking industry collapse, as the US thrashes around in service-orientated capitalism in big cities, Midwesterners are still punching that factory time-clock.

For the country to become great again, it’s going to take workers and engineers striving to create the next American product. It’s going to take residents used to low pay and long hours to keep the country moving forward.

It’s going to take hardy souls used to snowstorms that make New Yorkers weep.

Thanks anyway, we’ll stay here – and keep our coats on.