WSJ: Rural America Is the New ‘Inner City’

[Storebought]

The difference between the poverty of the 1980s and today is that, back then, the urban populations had a basic recognition of the causes of their plight, but requested a scale of government intervention (welfare, education grants, ..., all the stuff Jesse Jackson campaigned on in '84 and '88) that the Reagan administration would never consent to. Far from it: Reagan won two massive landslides mocking and exacerbating urban America's social disintegration.

That situation doesn't exist now. No Democrat stands in the gates of power vetoing the rejuvenation of rural America; their GOP representatives have complete control of Congress, the presidency, and most state legislatures. And the poster above me pointed out that rural Americans in any case don't regard themselves as suffering from any particular social decay besides job loss and persecution from "elites" (who they consider to be elite is very far from what Atlas Forum considers elite).

People have to acknowledge a problem exists before it can ever be addressed in a meaningful way. But with the stupidity of people believing in "Fake News" -- problems aren't problems because only Democrats and libs say they are -- I don't see how any meaningful debate can take place on the topic.