Showing posts with label Rural population political rage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rural population political rage. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Why Are Country Folks So Mad At The Rest Of Us?

 

I came from a country town in Tennessee and to my best recollection we only disliked yankees, and that was only because we felt they looked down on us. It was not in the least political but I was in high school then and there were other interests that kept me busy. I do remember an incident in my family when John F. Kennedy was elected--I was older then--where there was serious concern that a Catholic in the White House would try to convert us all to Catholicism. It didn't happen.

The world has changed in the seventy years since and a divisive order now exists between Democrats and Republicans that is eons larger than the distinction between the north and the south in the Civil War. It was clear then that the war was over the right to own slaves. Today, the war between the liberal and conservative ideologies is packed with so many issues that even the political experts can't keep up with it. 

Paul Krugman in his New York Times column quotes Katherine J. Cramer...

"who attributes rural resentment to perceptions that rural areas are ignored by policymakers, don’t get their fair share of resources and are disrespected by 'city folks.'”

That is similar to the southerners' dilemma back in the 1940s/1950s. But Krugman simply doesn't agree taking a completely opposite position...

"The truth is that ever since the New Deal rural America has received special treatment from policymakers. It’s not just farm subsidies, which ballooned under Donald Trump to the point where they accounted for around 40 percent of total farm income. Rural America also benefits from special programs that support housing, utilities and business in general."

The highly respected American economist goes on to point out how federal programs disproportionately benefit rural areas and other evidence of just how the rural population benefits from government programs.   READ MORE...

READ MORE from Paul Krugman on the rural political unrest: Economist Paul Krugman: Why 'rural resentment' fails the 'scrutiny' test

Donald Trump Says He Will Be Indicted On Tuesday

  THAT'S TODAY... Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has brought the case to this point, now looking at a possible indictment. Trum...