Look at the history of this wonderful dish. It is not an opinion, it is fact as best can be determined. Chili as we know it today originated in Texas by trail drivers as I wrote earlier. The actual history of a chili dish can be traced back about 7500 years! Beans were introduced later by northerners:
1922 - The Cincinnati Style Chili was created in 1922 by a Macedonian immigrant, Tom (Athanas) Kiradjieff. He settled in Cincinnati ... opened a hot dog stand with Greek food called the Empress, only to do a lousy business because nobody there at the time knew anything about Greek food. So, it is said, that they called their spaghetti chili.
He created a chili made with Middle Eastern spices which could be served a variety of ways. His "five-way" was a concoction of a mound of spaghetti topped with chili, then with chopped onion, then red kidney beans, then shredded yellow cheese, and served with oyster crackers and a side order of hot dogs topped with shredded cheese.
So, you Yankees enjoy your soup! It just ain't chili!
Big Smile