Small Town Rural America Has Been Screwed

[Dana7360]

.....
It was not a good experience. The speed limit in that area is 75 mph but everyone is going at least 80.

So many huge semi trucks flew by me as I was on the shoulder. One of them was barreling down through part of the shoulder and just missed hitting me in the car. I got out of the car after that and stood away from it in case it got hit.

The wind through that area just blows trucks and cars around. I was afraid the wind was going to blow one of the semi trucks into me.
.....

You are one badass mofo...

I don't know what that is supposed to mean but I'm woman who was in a very bad situation because I drove my car for 8 days on very bad roads that destroyed the front driver tire. A tire that was nearly brand new. It was installed at the end of November.

This is what driving 8 days on the bad roads did to a tire just over 4 months old.

 

[Unkotare]

.....
It was not a good experience. The speed limit in that area is 75 mph but everyone is going at least 80.

So many huge semi trucks flew by me as I was on the shoulder. One of them was barreling down through part of the shoulder and just missed hitting me in the car. I got out of the car after that and stood away from it in case it got hit.

The wind through that area just blows trucks and cars around. I was afraid the wind was going to blow one of the semi trucks into me.
.....

You are one badass mofo...

I don't know what that is supposed to mean but I'm woman who was in a very bad situation because I drove my car for 8 days on very bad roads that destroyed the front driver tire. A tire that was nearly brand new. It was installed at the end of November.

This is what driving 8 days on the bad roads did to a tire just over 4 months old.

View attachment 477890

Stay home and watch TV.

 

[OKTexas]

I've been on a road trip that I've wanted to do for a very long time.

I drove east to Illinois then am driving southwest to the Pacific Ocean on what's left of Route 66.

That road, or what's left of it, goes through small town rural America.

I've gone through ghost town after ghost town. The towns that aren't abandoned are so deeply depressed it's painful and shameful to see.

Small town rural America has been totally screwed and abandoned by both our government and our citizens.

I understand now why so many republicans are so angry. I don't understand why they can't see why they have been screwed so badly and by whom.

Most of the states and all of the towns are controlled by republicans. People keep voting for them because of social issues like gay marriage and because they don't make much money and wrongly seem to believe that tax cuts are the answer to their financial problems.

Tax cuts have only totally screwed small town rural America. Their roads are so bad. I mean so bad that there were times the rough road and wind has my car literally bouncing down the road. When was the last time their roads were paved? The poverty is just terrible.

This is the result of keeping wages low, no regulation on business and trillions in tax cuts for the rich and big business.

Capitalism is making it worse because there's no money to be made in those areas so they are abandoned by business which results in more depressed economic conditions.

Raising wages will help these people a lot. Not just by increasing their own pay but by increased business from others being paid more. No little tax cut that is temporary will be a solution to such poverty. Higher wages will.

Better education will help a lot. So people don't have to take low wage jobs that require public assistance to be able to survive.

Small town rural America needs to stop electing politicians who don't give a damn about them and won't invest in the people and the areas they live in.

I was in one place that the water coming out of the faucet was a light brown and cloudy. I didn't wash my hands, I used hand sanitizer instead.

I have gone through countless towns that are totally abandoned. I've gone through farming areas that there aren't houses on the land. Just farming. People don't live in those areas anymore so the towns are turning into ghost towns.

The air in Oklahoma and Texas was so polluted it has caused a sinus infection. And people live in those areas. I can only imagine the health problems of the people in those areas but they don't have any hospital or medical facilities to go to. They have to travel hundreds of miles to get medical help.

Younger people who weren't alive before Reagan think this is normal.

It's not.

America wasn't like this before the conservatives convinced Americans that taxes, regulations, worker protections, a livable wage and investing in our nation was a horrible thing.

I totally understand now why so many in small town rural America voted for trump. He was the first republican who actually vocalized the problems the Republican Party was creating.

Only he either went about fixing the problem wrong or just didn't do anything. Which is what he mostly did. Nothing. In fact, things got worse for small town rural America.

I don't know what the solution is to help these people see that voting for republicans got them in this mess and won't get them out of it.

But I finally saw for myself the reasons why republicans voted for trump.

You're sooooooo full of shit. The interstate highway system is what decimated small town America. When the traffic through town disappeared, so did businesses. You commies just ain't too bright, are ya.

.

Your simplistic answer to a far more complex problem shows you lack the intellectual capacity to even be on this thread.

I bet you're a city boy, ain't ya? I'm old enough to have seen small towns dry up because the interstates bypassed them.

“Small towns that were bypassed by the highways withered and died,” writes Brandon Keim for Wired. “New towns flourished around exits. Fast food and motel franchises replaced small businesses.”

Three Ways the Interstate System Changed America

The idea of a national highway system stretches back to the 1930s but wasn't put into place until the midcentury

www.smithsonianmag.com

Carry on commie.

.

Danny was correct - You’re not smart enough to participate here. There are a million reasons, not one.
I know lots of small towns that have flourished because they were willing to change with the times and give people reasons to go there!

Adaptation does not negate the primary reason small towns were struggling to begin with. And you're talking about the exceptions, not the rule.

.

 

[Dana7360]

These rural folks are very confusing. They seem to want help, on one hand, and then want, on the other hand, to live apart from the rest of their fellow Americans, blaming their fellow citizens all the way when nobody else is actually treating them badly.

The ruralists need to get out more, meet more people, acknowledge that people who are different from themselves exist. They somehow expect that the rest of the U.S. cater to their desire to live in a bubble. The closer you live to a population center, the more different people you interact with. I grew up right outside of NYC, and live in the DC suburbs. I've known people from all over the world. I've really enjoyed it. I can't imagine living any other way.

The anger that these ruralists exhibit toward others is entirely unfounded. Nobody owes them anything. They have no one else to blame for their failure to participate in society.

It's a safety and economical situation as far as I'm concerned.

I learned about the safety this morning.

After driving on these bad roads for over a week, the front driver side blew out one of the nearly brand new tires I had put on my car in November.

I hit one of their craters in the road and it blew my tire to smithereens. I was driving 75 mph at the time. Some how I got the car to the shoulder safely.

I called AAA for help. Was towed 40 miles back to Winslow to a tire shop.

The AAA driver said what happened to me is very common here. He said he himself has had that exact same thing happen to him 3 times in the last couple year. The guy at the tire shop wasn't surprised either. He said it's normal.

It's not normal in my state.

It's not normal for the roads to be so bad that it destroys a nearly brand new tire.

But the people are used to it. It's normal for them.

I'm in Flagstaff now for the rest of the day and night. Will take my car to the Toyota dealer tomorrow to have all my other tires checked out before I hit the road again. Hopefully the tires will be able to handle these roads so I can get home.

I always get much more appreciation for my state when I travel. This trip sure has done just that.

I so understand why so many people keep flocking to my state.

Ouch not good Dana! You’re too far south to be headed straight home. San Diego maybe? I’ve never been to Winslow don’t think, but if I ever get there, will stand on the famous Eagles corner and look for the - you know - The girl my Lord in a flatbed Ford slowin down to take a look at me! ;-)

It was not a good experience. The speed limit in that area is 75 mph but everyone is going at least 80.

So many huge semi trucks flew by me as I was on the shoulder. One of them was barreling down through part of the shoulder and just missed hitting me in the car. I got out of the car after that and stood away from it in case it got hit.

The wind through that area just blows trucks and cars around. I was afraid the wind was going to blow one of the semi trucks into me.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do but Vegas isn't far from here and that is a 2 day drive home from there.

I will decide what I do after the rest of the tires are checked out at the Toyota dealer tomorrow.

I was at the corner park this morning and photographed it. There's a restaurant on the corner across the street that plays Eagles music so everyone on the street can hear it. It's cool.

Maybe check out the Central Callie Coast around Morrow Bay/ San Simeon and then head all the way back on Hwy 1. That area through Big Sur and all the way up Oregon Coast is gorgeous!

I've done that gorgeous drive countless times. In fact, that was my original plan. To head up the coast from Santa Monica.

I will decide what to do after I get my tires checked out in the morning.

 

[DrLove]

Kinda sad that small town America votes republican. Republican politicians will never do anything to help their way of life. An affordable government run health care system like other more advanced countries have would certainly help their and their children make it through life. I say that as someone who has voted republican at times also, but I've come to realize that republicans really don't care about any one who's not wealthy although they pretend to, and are pretty successful at it.

Yep, but they surely do love the poorly educated in the sticks - until it comes time to actually DO something for ‘em.
Problem of course is that the jobs young college grads want and where they want to live are burbs outside of major cities.
So eventually many of them leave the smaller towns resulting in population attrition and general decay.

 

[Dana7360]

.....
It was not a good experience. The speed limit in that area is 75 mph but everyone is going at least 80.

So many huge semi trucks flew by me as I was on the shoulder. One of them was barreling down through part of the shoulder and just missed hitting me in the car. I got out of the car after that and stood away from it in case it got hit.

The wind through that area just blows trucks and cars around. I was afraid the wind was going to blow one of the semi trucks into me.
.....

You are one badass mofo...

I don't know what that is supposed to mean but I'm woman who was in a very bad situation because I drove my car for 8 days on very bad roads that destroyed the front driver tire. A tire that was nearly brand new. It was installed at the end of November.

This is what driving 8 days on the bad roads did to a tire just over 4 months old.

View attachment 477890

Stay home and watch TV.

If you actually thought before you posted that, you would have realized that a woman who drives from Washington to Illinois then all the way to California then back up to Washington, isn't the type of person to stay home to watch TV.

I had been stuck at home in a lockdown for over a year. I finally got fully vaccinated so I am free to interact with the world again.

The last thing I'm going to do is stay home to watch TV.

You might think that's a fun day but I don't.

I have better things to do with my time.

 

[DrLove]

I've been on a road trip that I've wanted to do for a very long time.

I drove east to Illinois then am driving southwest to the Pacific Ocean on what's left of Route 66.

That road, or what's left of it, goes through small town rural America.

I've gone through ghost town after ghost town. The towns that aren't abandoned are so deeply depressed it's painful and shameful to see.

Small town rural America has been totally screwed and abandoned by both our government and our citizens.

I understand now why so many republicans are so angry. I don't understand why they can't see why they have been screwed so badly and by whom.

Most of the states and all of the towns are controlled by republicans. People keep voting for them because of social issues like gay marriage and because they don't make much money and wrongly seem to believe that tax cuts are the answer to their financial problems.

Tax cuts have only totally screwed small town rural America. Their roads are so bad. I mean so bad that there were times the rough road and wind has my car literally bouncing down the road. When was the last time their roads were paved? The poverty is just terrible.

This is the result of keeping wages low, no regulation on business and trillions in tax cuts for the rich and big business.

Capitalism is making it worse because there's no money to be made in those areas so they are abandoned by business which results in more depressed economic conditions.

Raising wages will help these people a lot. Not just by increasing their own pay but by increased business from others being paid more. No little tax cut that is temporary will be a solution to such poverty. Higher wages will.

Better education will help a lot. So people don't have to take low wage jobs that require public assistance to be able to survive.

Small town rural America needs to stop electing politicians who don't give a damn about them and won't invest in the people and the areas they live in.

I was in one place that the water coming out of the faucet was a light brown and cloudy. I didn't wash my hands, I used hand sanitizer instead.

I have gone through countless towns that are totally abandoned. I've gone through farming areas that there aren't houses on the land. Just farming. People don't live in those areas anymore so the towns are turning into ghost towns.

The air in Oklahoma and Texas was so polluted it has caused a sinus infection. And people live in those areas. I can only imagine the health problems of the people in those areas but they don't have any hospital or medical facilities to go to. They have to travel hundreds of miles to get medical help.

Younger people who weren't alive before Reagan think this is normal.

It's not.

America wasn't like this before the conservatives convinced Americans that taxes, regulations, worker protections, a livable wage and investing in our nation was a horrible thing.

I totally understand now why so many in small town rural America voted for trump. He was the first republican who actually vocalized the problems the Republican Party was creating.

Only he either went about fixing the problem wrong or just didn't do anything. Which is what he mostly did. Nothing. In fact, things got worse for small town rural America.

I don't know what the solution is to help these people see that voting for republicans got them in this mess and won't get them out of it.

But I finally saw for myself the reasons why republicans voted for trump.

You're sooooooo full of shit. The interstate highway system is what decimated small town America. When the traffic through town disappeared, so did businesses. You commies just ain't too bright, are ya.

.

Your simplistic answer to a far more complex problem shows you lack the intellectual capacity to even be on this thread.

I bet you're a city boy, ain't ya? I'm old enough to have seen small towns dry up because the interstates bypassed them.

“Small towns that were bypassed by the highways withered and died,” writes Brandon Keim for Wired. “New towns flourished around exits. Fast food and motel franchises replaced small businesses.”

Three Ways the Interstate System Changed America

The idea of a national highway system stretches back to the 1930s but wasn't put into place until the midcentury

www.smithsonianmag.com

Carry on commie.

.

Danny was correct - You’re not smart enough to participate here. There are a million reasons, not one.
I know lots of small towns that have flourished because they were willing to change with the times and give people reasons to go there!

Adaptation does not negate the primary reason small towns were struggling to begin with. And you're talking about the exceptions, not the rule.

Ok that’s fair. But it ain’t highway bypasses alone that have killed small towns.

 

[DrLove]

.....
It was not a good experience. The speed limit in that area is 75 mph but everyone is going at least 80.

So many huge semi trucks flew by me as I was on the shoulder. One of them was barreling down through part of the shoulder and just missed hitting me in the car. I got out of the car after that and stood away from it in case it got hit.

The wind through that area just blows trucks and cars around. I was afraid the wind was going to blow one of the semi trucks into me.
.....

You are one badass mofo...

I don't know what that is supposed to mean but I'm woman who was in a very bad situation because I drove my car for 8 days on very bad roads that destroyed the front driver tire. A tire that was nearly brand new. It was installed at the end of November.

This is what driving 8 days on the bad roads did to a tire just over 4 months old.

View attachment 477890

Stay home and watch TV.

If you actually thought before you posted that, you would have realized that a woman who drives from Washington to Illinois then all the way to California then back up to Washington, isn't the type of person to stay home to watch TV.

I had been stuck at home in a lockdown for over a year. I finally got fully vaccinated so I am free to interact with the world again.

The last thing I'm going to do is stay home to watch TV.

You might think that's a fun day but I don't.

I have better things to do with my time.

Yea Dana, don’t you have a man to cook and clean for? And when you have a spare moment, you could watch The View and Dr Phil!

 

[MisterBeale]

I've been on a road trip that I've wanted to do for a very long time.

I drove east to Illinois then am driving southwest to the Pacific Ocean on what's left of Route 66.

That road, or what's left of it, goes through small town rural America.

I've gone through ghost town after ghost town. The towns that aren't abandoned are so deeply depressed it's painful and shameful to see.

Small town rural America has been totally screwed and abandoned by both our government and our citizens.

I understand now why so many republicans are so angry. I don't understand why they can't see why they have been screwed so badly and by whom.

Most of the states and all of the towns are controlled by republicans. People keep voting for them because of social issues like gay marriage and because they don't make much money and wrongly seem to believe that tax cuts are the answer to their financial problems.

Tax cuts have only totally screwed small town rural America. Their roads are so bad. I mean so bad that there were times the rough road and wind has my car literally bouncing down the road. When was the last time their roads were paved? The poverty is just terrible.

This is the result of keeping wages low, no regulation on business and trillions in tax cuts for the rich and big business.

Capitalism is making it worse because there's no money to be made in those areas so they are abandoned by business which results in more depressed economic conditions.

Raising wages will help these people a lot. Not just by increasing their own pay but by increased business from others being paid more. No little tax cut that is temporary will be a solution to such poverty. Higher wages will.

Better education will help a lot. So people don't have to take low wage jobs that require public assistance to be able to survive.

Small town rural America needs to stop electing politicians who don't give a damn about them and won't invest in the people and the areas they live in.

I was in one place that the water coming out of the faucet was a light brown and cloudy. I didn't wash my hands, I used hand sanitizer instead.

I have gone through countless towns that are totally abandoned. I've gone through farming areas that there aren't houses on the land. Just farming. People don't live in those areas anymore so the towns are turning into ghost towns.

The air in Oklahoma and Texas was so polluted it has caused a sinus infection. And people live in those areas. I can only imagine the health problems of the people in those areas but they don't have any hospital or medical facilities to go to. They have to travel hundreds of miles to get medical help.

Younger people who weren't alive before Reagan think this is normal.

It's not.

America wasn't like this before the conservatives convinced Americans that taxes, regulations, worker protections, a livable wage and investing in our nation was a horrible thing.

I totally understand now why so many in small town rural America voted for trump. He was the first republican who actually vocalized the problems the Republican Party was creating.

Only he either went about fixing the problem wrong or just didn't do anything. Which is what he mostly did. Nothing. In fact, things got worse for small town rural America.

I don't know what the solution is to help these people see that voting for republicans got them in this mess and won't get them out of it.

But I finally saw for myself the reasons why republicans voted for trump.

So you just drove through and you had time to find out the political leanings of every person in every town huh?

That is such a stupid comment.

All I have to do is look at who they elect.

Guess what?

Democrats or moderates don't vote for republicans.

If the mayor, city counsel, the representation in their state congress and congress in DC are republican, the majority of the people in that area are republicans.

While the cities are in good shape compared to the rural areas, they are still sub par compared to the area I live in but the cities in the red states are much better off than the small towns in the rural areas.

You don't realize they are taking your tax dollars and spending it on the cities while leaving the rural areas to fall apart.

The state I live in doesn't have conditions like this. We don't have ghost towns. You can drive through rural areas of my state and find small towns that while aren't as well off as the cities, they aren't dying.

You people need to get out of your areas and experience what's happening in the cities and other states.

Yes, I haven't spent much time in red states anymore so I was very shocked to see what has happened to small town rural America in red states.

The change is very dramatic and I find it shameful. It shouldn't be happening.

this is mostly a nice post. . . except the part where you try to pin it on one parties' politician or another.

The folks in fly over country just want some representation. . . someone to speak for them and their values. I don't think they care what party that person is calling themselves, I really don't.

You either have no idea how economics and politics work, or you know damn well how it all works, and just lie your ass off. I don't know which.


The reason the roads and infrastructure looks so bad? Is because local communities are responsible for their local infrastructure. If there is no tax base? There can be no road millage, it is as simple as that. Government, especially federal government, cannot magically create improved economic conditions, even with a minimum wage. Only business can create jobs and economic opportunity.

You somehow believe that these folks, if they voted for politicians in the DNC, that those politicians would listen to these folks more than they would listen to the billionaire stake holders on Wall-street and in Silicon Valley that fund their campaigns, especially when they are already winning the votes of the metropolises? IS that what you really think?

I again, ask you. . . are you this stoopid, or just a liar?

 

[OKTexas]

I've been on a road trip that I've wanted to do for a very long time.

I drove east to Illinois then am driving southwest to the Pacific Ocean on what's left of Route 66.

That road, or what's left of it, goes through small town rural America.

I've gone through ghost town after ghost town. The towns that aren't abandoned are so deeply depressed it's painful and shameful to see.

Small town rural America has been totally screwed and abandoned by both our government and our citizens.

I understand now why so many republicans are so angry. I don't understand why they can't see why they have been screwed so badly and by whom.

Most of the states and all of the towns are controlled by republicans. People keep voting for them because of social issues like gay marriage and because they don't make much money and wrongly seem to believe that tax cuts are the answer to their financial problems.

Tax cuts have only totally screwed small town rural America. Their roads are so bad. I mean so bad that there were times the rough road and wind has my car literally bouncing down the road. When was the last time their roads were paved? The poverty is just terrible.

This is the result of keeping wages low, no regulation on business and trillions in tax cuts for the rich and big business.

Capitalism is making it worse because there's no money to be made in those areas so they are abandoned by business which results in more depressed economic conditions.

Raising wages will help these people a lot. Not just by increasing their own pay but by increased business from others being paid more. No little tax cut that is temporary will be a solution to such poverty. Higher wages will.

Better education will help a lot. So people don't have to take low wage jobs that require public assistance to be able to survive.

Small town rural America needs to stop electing politicians who don't give a damn about them and won't invest in the people and the areas they live in.

I was in one place that the water coming out of the faucet was a light brown and cloudy. I didn't wash my hands, I used hand sanitizer instead.

I have gone through countless towns that are totally abandoned. I've gone through farming areas that there aren't houses on the land. Just farming. People don't live in those areas anymore so the towns are turning into ghost towns.

The air in Oklahoma and Texas was so polluted it has caused a sinus infection. And people live in those areas. I can only imagine the health problems of the people in those areas but they don't have any hospital or medical facilities to go to. They have to travel hundreds of miles to get medical help.

Younger people who weren't alive before Reagan think this is normal.

It's not.

America wasn't like this before the conservatives convinced Americans that taxes, regulations, worker protections, a livable wage and investing in our nation was a horrible thing.

I totally understand now why so many in small town rural America voted for trump. He was the first republican who actually vocalized the problems the Republican Party was creating.

Only he either went about fixing the problem wrong or just didn't do anything. Which is what he mostly did. Nothing. In fact, things got worse for small town rural America.

I don't know what the solution is to help these people see that voting for republicans got them in this mess and won't get them out of it.

But I finally saw for myself the reasons why republicans voted for trump.

You're sooooooo full of shit. The interstate highway system is what decimated small town America. When the traffic through town disappeared, so did businesses. You commies just ain't too bright, are ya.

.

Your simplistic answer to a far more complex problem shows you lack the intellectual capacity to even be on this thread.

I bet you're a city boy, ain't ya? I'm old enough to have seen small towns dry up because the interstates bypassed them.

“Small towns that were bypassed by the highways withered and died,” writes Brandon Keim for Wired. “New towns flourished around exits. Fast food and motel franchises replaced small businesses.”

Three Ways the Interstate System Changed America

The idea of a national highway system stretches back to the 1930s but wasn't put into place until the midcentury

www.smithsonianmag.com

Carry on commie.

.

Danny was correct - You’re not smart enough to participate here. There are a million reasons, not one.
I know lots of small towns that have flourished because they were willing to change with the times and give people reasons to go there!

Adaptation does not negate the primary reason small towns were struggling to begin with. And you're talking about the exceptions, not the rule.

Ok that’s fair. But it ain’t highway bypasses alone that have killed small towns.

Didn't say it was, but it was the primary reason for most. There's no larger singular reason.

.

 

[Dana7360]

.....
It was not a good experience. The speed limit in that area is 75 mph but everyone is going at least 80.

So many huge semi trucks flew by me as I was on the shoulder. One of them was barreling down through part of the shoulder and just missed hitting me in the car. I got out of the car after that and stood away from it in case it got hit.

The wind through that area just blows trucks and cars around. I was afraid the wind was going to blow one of the semi trucks into me.
.....

You are one badass mofo...

I don't know what that is supposed to mean but I'm woman who was in a very bad situation because I drove my car for 8 days on very bad roads that destroyed the front driver tire. A tire that was nearly brand new. It was installed at the end of November.

This is what driving 8 days on the bad roads did to a tire just over 4 months old.

View attachment 477890

Stay home and watch TV.

If you actually thought before you posted that, you would have realized that a woman who drives from Washington to Illinois then all the way to California then back up to Washington, isn't the type of person to stay home to watch TV.

I had been stuck at home in a lockdown for over a year. I finally got fully vaccinated so I am free to interact with the world again.

The last thing I'm going to do is stay home to watch TV.

You might think that's a fun day but I don't.

I have better things to do with my time.

Yea Dana, don’t you have a man to cook and clean for? And when you have a spare moment, you could watch The View and Dr Phil!

Thank you for that laugh. I needed it.

I have never seen most of what is on TV these days.

I have much better things to do with my time.

 

[WTH_Progs?]

Who else read that drive gave him the opportunity to overthink the reasons why he should project his Communist preferences on conservatives?

 

[Unkotare]

.....
It was not a good experience. The speed limit in that area is 75 mph but everyone is going at least 80.

So many huge semi trucks flew by me as I was on the shoulder. One of them was barreling down through part of the shoulder and just missed hitting me in the car. I got out of the car after that and stood away from it in case it got hit.

The wind through that area just blows trucks and cars around. I was afraid the wind was going to blow one of the semi trucks into me.
.....

You are one badass mofo...

I don't know what that is supposed to mean but I'm woman who was in a very bad situation because I drove my car for 8 days on very bad roads that destroyed the front driver tire. A tire that was nearly brand new. It was installed at the end of November.

This is what driving 8 days on the bad roads did to a tire just over 4 months old.

View attachment 477890

Stay home and watch TV.

If you actually thought before you posted that, you would have realized that a woman who drives from Washington to Illinois then all the way to California then back up to Washington, isn't the type of person to stay home to watch TV.

I had been stuck at home in a lockdown for over a year. I finally got fully vaccinated so I am free to interact with the world again.

The last thing I'm going to do is stay home to watch TV.

You might think that's a fun day but I don't.

I have better things to do with my time.

Yet you're scared to be on the road with other vehicles...

 

[Disir]

lol@ woman driving alone suggesting helplessness in states where women are fearless warriors.

 

[Unkotare]

 

[Tommy Tainant]

.....
It was not a good experience. The speed limit in that area is 75 mph but everyone is going at least 80.

So many huge semi trucks flew by me as I was on the shoulder. One of them was barreling down through part of the shoulder and just missed hitting me in the car. I got out of the car after that and stood away from it in case it got hit.

The wind through that area just blows trucks and cars around. I was afraid the wind was going to blow one of the semi trucks into me.
.....

You are one badass mofo...

I don't know what that is supposed to mean but I'm woman who was in a very bad situation because I drove my car for 8 days on very bad roads that destroyed the front driver tire. A tire that was nearly brand new. It was installed at the end of November.

This is what driving 8 days on the bad roads did to a tire just over 4 months old.

View attachment 477890

Stay home and watch TV.

If you actually thought before you posted that, you would have realized that a woman who drives from Washington to Illinois then all the way to California then back up to Washington, isn't the type of person to stay home to watch TV.

I had been stuck at home in a lockdown for over a year. I finally got fully vaccinated so I am free to interact with the world again.

The last thing I'm going to do is stay home to watch TV.

You might think that's a fun day but I don't.

I have better things to do with my time.

Stop moaning. You should feel honoured that he put down his crayons for a moment to respond to you.

 

[Dana7360]

.....
It was not a good experience. The speed limit in that area is 75 mph but everyone is going at least 80.

So many huge semi trucks flew by me as I was on the shoulder. One of them was barreling down through part of the shoulder and just missed hitting me in the car. I got out of the car after that and stood away from it in case it got hit.

The wind through that area just blows trucks and cars around. I was afraid the wind was going to blow one of the semi trucks into me.
.....

You are one badass mofo...

I don't know what that is supposed to mean but I'm woman who was in a very bad situation because I drove my car for 8 days on very bad roads that destroyed the front driver tire. A tire that was nearly brand new. It was installed at the end of November.

This is what driving 8 days on the bad roads did to a tire just over 4 months old.

View attachment 477890

Stay home and watch TV.

If you actually thought before you posted that, you would have realized that a woman who drives from Washington to Illinois then all the way to California then back up to Washington, isn't the type of person to stay home to watch TV.

I had been stuck at home in a lockdown for over a year. I finally got fully vaccinated so I am free to interact with the world again.

The last thing I'm going to do is stay home to watch TV.

You might think that's a fun day but I don't.

I have better things to do with my time.

Yet you're scared to be on the road with other vehicles...

So you make up lies about me to feel better about yourself.

Wow. How pathetic.

If I was too scared to be on the road with other cars, how do you explain the fact that I drove from Washington to Illinois then have been driving to the coast from Illinois?

If I was too scared to be on the road with other cars I never would have taken this road trip.

Do you understand what logic and common sense are?

 

[SweetTea]

.....
It was not a good experience. The speed limit in that area is 75 mph but everyone is going at least 80.

So many huge semi trucks flew by me as I was on the shoulder. One of them was barreling down through part of the shoulder and just missed hitting me in the car. I got out of the car after that and stood away from it in case it got hit.

The wind through that area just blows trucks and cars around. I was afraid the wind was going to blow one of the semi trucks into me.
.....

You are one badass mofo...

I don't know what that is supposed to mean but I'm woman who was in a very bad situation because I drove my car for 8 days on very bad roads that destroyed the front driver tire. A tire that was nearly brand new. It was installed at the end of November.

This is what driving 8 days on the bad roads did to a tire just over 4 months old.

View attachment 477890

Stay home and watch TV.

If you actually thought before you posted that, you would have realized that a woman who drives from Washington to Illinois then all the way to California then back up to Washington, isn't the type of person to stay home to watch TV.

I had been stuck at home in a lockdown for over a year. I finally got fully vaccinated so I am free to interact with the world again.

The last thing I'm going to do is stay home to watch TV.

You might think that's a fun day but I don't.

I have better things to do with my time.

Yet you're scared to be on the road with other vehicles...

So you make up lies about me to feel better about yourself.

Wow. How pathetic.

If I was too scared to be on the road with other cars, how do you explain the fact that I drove from Washington to Illinois then have been driving to the coast from Illinois?

If I was too scared to be on the road with other cars I never would have taken this road trip.

Do you understand what logic and common sense are?

What size town do you consider rural? What size city/town do you consider large enough to have suburbs?

 

[Bootney Lee Farnsworth]

Capitalism is making it worse

What capitalism? You type all of this hogwash and dont even understand your own premise.
You bitter fool.

Yes, we don't operate a system of Capitalism in this country so it is hard to blame things on that. We can blame a lot on what we pretend to be Capitalism.

And the root cause?

GOVERNMENT

What options are we given to fix any of these problems?

MORE GOVERNMENT!!!




TO GOVERNMENT--THE CAUSE OF----AND SOLUTION TO----ALL OF LIFE'S PROBLEMS!

 

[Dragonlady]

I've been on a road trip that I've wanted to do for a very long time.

I drove east to Illinois then am driving southwest to the Pacific Ocean on what's left of Route 66.

That road, or what's left of it, goes through small town rural America.

I've gone through ghost town after ghost town. The towns that aren't abandoned are so deeply depressed it's painful and shameful to see.

Small town rural America has been totally screwed and abandoned by both our government and our citizens.

I understand now why so many republicans are so angry. I don't understand why they can't see why they have been screwed so badly and by whom.

Most of the states and all of the towns are controlled by republicans. People keep voting for them because of social issues like gay marriage and because they don't make much money and wrongly seem to believe that tax cuts are the answer to their financial problems.

Tax cuts have only totally screwed small town rural America. Their roads are so bad. I mean so bad that there were times the rough road and wind has my car literally bouncing down the road. When was the last time their roads were paved? The poverty is just terrible.

This is the result of keeping wages low, no regulation on business and trillions in tax cuts for the rich and big business.

Capitalism is making it worse because there's no money to be made in those areas so they are abandoned by business which results in more depressed economic conditions.

Raising wages will help these people a lot. Not just by increasing their own pay but by increased business from others being paid more. No little tax cut that is temporary will be a solution to such poverty. Higher wages will.

Better education will help a lot. So people don't have to take low wage jobs that require public assistance to be able to survive.

Small town rural America needs to stop electing politicians who don't give a damn about them and won't invest in the people and the areas they live in.

I was in one place that the water coming out of the faucet was a light brown and cloudy. I didn't wash my hands, I used hand sanitizer instead.

I have gone through countless towns that are totally abandoned. I've gone through farming areas that there aren't houses on the land. Just farming. People don't live in those areas anymore so the towns are turning into ghost towns.

The air in Oklahoma and Texas was so polluted it has caused a sinus infection. And people live in those areas. I can only imagine the health problems of the people in those areas but they don't have any hospital or medical facilities to go to. They have to travel hundreds of miles to get medical help.

Younger people who weren't alive before Reagan think this is normal.

It's not.

America wasn't like this before the conservatives convinced Americans that taxes, regulations, worker protections, a livable wage and investing in our nation was a horrible thing.

I totally understand now why so many in small town rural America voted for trump. He was the first republican who actually vocalized the problems the Republican Party was creating.

Only he either went about fixing the problem wrong or just didn't do anything. Which is what he mostly did. Nothing. In fact, things got worse for small town rural America.

I don't know what the solution is to help these people see that voting for republicans got them in this mess and won't get them out of it.

But I finally saw for myself the reasons why republicans voted for trump.

You're sooooooo full of shit. The interstate highway system is what decimated small town America. When the traffic through town disappeared, so did businesses. You commies just ain't too bright, are ya.

.

Your simplistic answer to a far more complex problem shows you lack the intellectual capacity to even be on this thread.

I bet you're a city boy, ain't ya? I'm old enough to have seen small towns dry up because the interstates bypassed them.

“Small towns that were bypassed by the highways withered and died,” writes Brandon Keim for Wired. “New towns flourished around exits. Fast food and motel franchises replaced small businesses.”

Three Ways the Interstate System Changed America

The idea of a national highway system stretches back to the 1930s but wasn't put into place until the midcentury

www.smithsonianmag.com

Carry on commie.

.

Danny was correct - You’re not smart enough to participate here. There are a million reasons, not one.
I know lots of small towns that have flourished because they were willing to change with the times and give people reasons to go there!

Adaptation does not negate the primary reason small towns were struggling to begin with. And you're talking about the exceptions, not the rule.

.

Evolve or die. Apparently small town Americans are too stiff necked to change their ways so they're dying.

You remind my of the membership of our church in Toronto. The church was done to fewer than `100 members, and the worship service was straight out of 1955. They wanted to grow the congregation, but they wanted everything to stay the same.

I've been on a road trip that I've wanted to do for a very long time.

I drove east to Illinois then am driving southwest to the Pacific Ocean on what's left of Route 66.

That road, or what's left of it, goes through small town rural America.

I've gone through ghost town after ghost town. The towns that aren't abandoned are so deeply depressed it's painful and shameful to see.

Small town rural America has been totally screwed and abandoned by both our government and our citizens.

I understand now why so many republicans are so angry. I don't understand why they can't see why they have been screwed so badly and by whom.

Most of the states and all of the towns are controlled by republicans. People keep voting for them because of social issues like gay marriage and because they don't make much money and wrongly seem to believe that tax cuts are the answer to their financial problems.

Tax cuts have only totally screwed small town rural America. Their roads are so bad. I mean so bad that there were times the rough road and wind has my car literally bouncing down the road. When was the last time their roads were paved? The poverty is just terrible.

This is the result of keeping wages low, no regulation on business and trillions in tax cuts for the rich and big business.

Capitalism is making it worse because there's no money to be made in those areas so they are abandoned by business which results in more depressed economic conditions.

Raising wages will help these people a lot. Not just by increasing their own pay but by increased business from others being paid more. No little tax cut that is temporary will be a solution to such poverty. Higher wages will.

Better education will help a lot. So people don't have to take low wage jobs that require public assistance to be able to survive.

Small town rural America needs to stop electing politicians who don't give a damn about them and won't invest in the people and the areas they live in.

I was in one place that the water coming out of the faucet was a light brown and cloudy. I didn't wash my hands, I used hand sanitizer instead.

I have gone through countless towns that are totally abandoned. I've gone through farming areas that there aren't houses on the land. Just farming. People don't live in those areas anymore so the towns are turning into ghost towns.

The air in Oklahoma and Texas was so polluted it has caused a sinus infection. And people live in those areas. I can only imagine the health problems of the people in those areas but they don't have any hospital or medical facilities to go to. They have to travel hundreds of miles to get medical help.

Younger people who weren't alive before Reagan think this is normal.

It's not.

America wasn't like this before the conservatives convinced Americans that taxes, regulations, worker protections, a livable wage and investing in our nation was a horrible thing.

I totally understand now why so many in small town rural America voted for trump. He was the first republican who actually vocalized the problems the Republican Party was creating.

Only he either went about fixing the problem wrong or just didn't do anything. Which is what he mostly did. Nothing. In fact, things got worse for small town rural America.

I don't know what the solution is to help these people see that voting for republicans got them in this mess and won't get them out of it.

But I finally saw for myself the reasons why republicans voted for trump.

So you just drove through and you had time to find out the political leanings of every person in every town huh?

That is such a stupid comment.

All I have to do is look at who they elect.

Guess what?

Democrats or moderates don't vote for republicans.

If the mayor, city counsel, the representation in their state congress and congress in DC are republican, the majority of the people in that area are republicans.

While the cities are in good shape compared to the rural areas, they are still sub par compared to the area I live in but the cities in the red states are much better off than the small towns in the rural areas.

You don't realize they are taking your tax dollars and spending it on the cities while leaving the rural areas to fall apart.

The state I live in doesn't have conditions like this. We don't have ghost towns. You can drive through rural areas of my state and find small towns that while aren't as well off as the cities, they aren't dying.

You people need to get out of your areas and experience what's happening in the cities and other states.

Yes, I haven't spent much time in red states anymore so I was very shocked to see what has happened to small town rural America in red states.

The change is very dramatic and I find it shameful. It shouldn't be happening.

this is mostly a nice post. . . except the part where you try to pin it on one parties' politician or another.

The folks in fly over country just want some representation. . . someone to speak for them and their values. I don't think they care what party that person is calling themselves, I really don't.

You either have no idea how economics and politics work, or you know damn well how it all works, and just lie your ass off. I don't know which.


The reason the roads and infrastructure looks so bad? Is because local communities are responsible for their local infrastructure. If there is no tax base? There can be no road millage, it is as simple as that. Government, especially federal government, cannot magically create improved economic conditions, even with a minimum wage. Only business can create jobs and economic opportunity.

You somehow believe that these folks, if they voted for politicians in the DNC, that those politicians would listen to these folks more than they would listen to the billionaire stake holders on Wall-street and in Silicon Valley that fund their campaigns, especially when they are already winning the votes of the metropolises? IS that what you really think?

I again, ask you. . . are you this stoopid, or just a liar?

The folks in the fly-over states have been lied to by right wing radio and the Republican Party since Reagan was elected. Their "values" aren't being represented by the Republican Party and neither are they. It is not people on the left or the Democrats who are lying to you and making your lives miserable, it is Republicans. Their policies don't work, and they are incompetent managers of the public purse, and economy.

You say you don't care which party provides the representation, as long as they reflect your values, but then you accuse Democrats of being the liars, and vote against them. If you consistently vote for the Party that lies to you, and call the people telling you the truth "liars", you're going to end up where you are now.

Republicans aren't reflecting your "values" unless your values are white supremacy, poverty, and unemployment, and tax breaks for billionaires, because those are the results of Republican governance. You've been voting Republican for 40 years, based on their lies to you, while decrying the "lying Democrats".