The resulting map shows huge swaths of deeply disadvantaged locations across the nation’s 3,000 counties, places that are mostly located outside of the largest U.S. cities yet which share some traits: A history of resource extraction, unequal educational opportunities, a breakdown of social bonds, violence and local corruption.
The “colonies” described in this study are the heart of rural, red, America. If you want to see conservative politics in action, this is where you find it.
Car dependent, nothing but fast food, poor infrastructure, few jobs, zero entertainment, a severe lack of healthcare facilities, bad schools, and more.
Rural America is being left behind and it’s because they keep voting for Republicans who absolutely do not care about their well-being.
Because those of us who could vote with our feet DID. Stop blaming those left behind. If you improve those areas, a lot of us would go back home and you’d see the politics change.
Are the voters not responsible for the people they elect? Why should they be free of blame just because they can’t afford to move away?
I live in Ohio and you can definitely see this if you focus in on the state. Cleveland has a massive medical industry but the rural parts of the state it’s like a completely different world.
And huge swaths of those “colonies” regularly vote against their own interests and actively work to enable well connected politicians and businesses to kneecap them in the name of having the last word or just out of good old fashioned racism.
Some, yes, but many are black, Native Americans, and Mexican Americans who have been systematically disenfranchised. Really the only places in the study that fit your description are in coal country.
And also, there’s a majority there now because those of us who could vote with our feet did.
I’m part of the Appalachian diaspora. I grew up knowing my extended family closely and now we’re all spread across the country, leaving none of us at home to vote sensibly. The dismantling of my family structure and so many others like me is a silent tragedy of the past two generations.
That’s a good point, I wonder if the authors address it. Richard Florida, the geographer, argues that geographic mobility is a strong prediction of success. Places full of people who have never moved are often worse off.
Glad somebody mentioned that this disparity is very largely and collectively self inflicted. It’s not necessarily because they are stupid but because their various unproductive hatreds are so easily exploited.
When you’re a guaranteed vote, why would you expect anything to change?
Titles like this are why I don’t read mainstream outlets anymore.
Western states, aside from the literal west coast, do operate much like colonies.
Most of their initial economies were based around resource extraction, and that’s still mostly true today. The companies that own the mines and oil fields and such, aren’t headquartered anywhere near those states. Resources are extracted, and then shipped off elsewhere to be processed into something.
