I read that a couple days ago on Facebook. It was one of the things that prompted the post I made that I quoted last page. (Well, two pages now, that's what I get for making such a reference.)
The massive problem of course as others have stated is that Trump's ideas aren't going to really help them.
Their way of life is dying, but it isn't dying because of the government and the government can't undo it dying. The things it can do to mitigate the effects are things Clinton wanted to do. Their jobs aren't coming back. The coal mine will not reopen, nor should it. The market killed it. The jobs that went overseas aren't even going to stay overseas; they're just outright disappearing. This is a market change in many ways not unlike the decrease in need for farm labor or horse jobs going away.
In the mid term, we need to come to terms with the fact that the world is rapidly entering a post-labor economy. There will simply not be enough 'jobs' that need done for everyone to need to work, even the able bodied. The mechanisms we've developed to distribute wealth and work break down when there isn't incentive to hire people.
We can move towards Star Trek or Starship Troopers. Let's hope we survive whatever transition is needed.
I agree with everything you said, but the big part you skimmed over is the cultural difference between rural and small town life and the cities. Like the author of that piece I have had one foot in a small town and one in a big city my whole life. I'm from a small town near Sioux City Iowa, but I've lived most of my life in and around Seattle. My father worked in construction, but doing that there meant he was lucky if the job allowed him to be home in the evenings. Often he would have to work hundreds of miles away and only be home on the weekends. Our life revolved around the church and we hunted and fished not so much for recreation, but for food. My uncle and aunt worked 30 miles away in the RCA TV factory until it was closed down. Eventually, my Dad moved all of us to Seattle. My mother's family was not happy, but it was beyond a doubt the smart thing to do.
Back in Iowa, life revolved around the church and hunting and fishing, but in Seattle, they just wasn't that important. We still went to church, but over time we stopped. I still went fishing with my dad but no where near as often and I think I went hunting maybe twice in the next 10 years. We now did it for recreation.
I no more want to tell the people back home that they shouldn't go to church or stop them from hunting. Also, there are a great many things about church that is frankly missing in an atheist's life. As a city boy I miss the structure and community that the church provided back in Iowa. But it comes at a cost that I just cannot pay.
The chasm betwee the 2 communities is large, but the truth is they are facing the same economic problems. The cities tend to be able to cope with them better though, mostly because we're more honest about them. Yesterday's solutions are simply not right for today and tomorrow. The rugged individualism and toughness that served the rural folks so well simply fail in today's world where education, money and interdependence rules.
One of the smartest and yet in a way clueless person I've ever known was a neighbor I had back in Iowa. This guy could fix just about anything. He was always making things in his shop in his barn. Something that would break on his tractor, he would often make the part instead of ordering it. He was incredibly creative. I know no one in the city who can do what he did. If there was a nuclear war, that guy would survive, probably even prosper. But he was so set in his ways the world is passing him by.
The economy is horrible there. But it's been horrible for 60 years. There is no future there for their children so at least half move away. It's simply not sustainable. They have the same problems the big cities have. Drugs and alcohol ravage them just as much as they do the cities. They turn to the church for every solution, but God doesn't give them squat. He doesn't build them a factory for their kids to work at and he never will.
There is a huge difference between the Democrats and the Republicans about how to deal with the problems. The Dems say the government can help and the Republicans mock the government and turn it into the enemy. It's the enemy of their rugged individualism. It says you can't fill in that marshland and plant on it. They say to the coal miner, sorry we don't want to burn your coal for fuel anymore because it is destroying the planet. The government believes that science and knowledge should be our guide not the money interests.
I wish that we didn't have to care about the environment. But I know better. It might help the farmer to fill in that marshland but it's not good for the commercial fisherman when the habitat for juvenile salmon is destroyed.
I want the best for EVERYONE, but let's identify the actual problems and address them instead of believing we can pray them away.
