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Saturday, January 28th, 2023

Can Anything Be Done to Assuage Rural Rage?

Author:     Paul Krugman
Source:     The New York Times
Publication Date:     Jan. 26, 2023
 Link: Can Anything Be Done to Assuage Rural Rage?
Stephan:  

As usual Paul Krugman gets the facts right and cuts through the crap of political misinformation. Part of the Great Schism Trend is the growing divide between rural and urban America, particularly White rural Americans and the multi-racial citizens of cities. The central problem the United States faces as a society is that there is no longer one America, and as we become a minority-majority nation racially, there is a segment of White Americans that resents this happening, that feels they are somehow victims and is becoming increasingly prone to violence.

Rural resentment has become a central fact of American politics — in particular, a pillar of support for the rise of right-wing extremism. As the Republican Party has moved ever further into MAGAland, it has lost votes among educated suburban voters; but this has been offset by a drastic rightward shift in rural areas, which in some places has gone so far that the Democrats who remain face intimidation and are afraid to reveal their party affiliation.

But is this shift permanent? Can anything be done to assuage rural rage?

The answer will depend on two things: whether it’s possible to improve rural lives and restore rural communities, and whether the voters in these communities will give politicians credit for any improvements that do take place.

This week my colleague Thomas B. Edsall surveyed research on the rural Republican shift. I was struck by his summary of work by Katherine J. Cramer

✎ EditSign, who attributes rural resentment to perceptions that rural areas are ignored by policymakers, don’t get their fair share of resources and are […]

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