Dana7360
Diamond Member
- Aug 6, 2014
- 15,147
- 13,597
- 2,405
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.
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.