Whoa. Hold your horses. Let’s think about this a minute. You’ve got your numbers right, but do those numbers mean what you think they mean?
Caren, you live in New Jersey, and I live in Kentucky. Prior to Kentucky, I spent 35 years in a rural region that the Congressional Research Service declared worse off than Appalachia (as measured by almost every socio-indicator). Would it surprise you to learn that region was in California?
Stay with me, cause things are not what they seem. Let’s look at this from my point of view.
Let’s start with Congress. The current Senate minority leader is Mitch McConnel from Kentucky. The House majority leader is Kevin McCarthy from California. While both men are Republicans, they are almost polar opposites. One man answers to corporations, the other man answers to constituents. Can you guess which is which?
I’ve lived in both their districts and Kentucky is by far, the most progressive. In fact, in 2020, Kentucky Democrats still held the majority (48% registered Democrats, 43% registered Republicans). Caren, do you know the reason that Mitch McConnel stayed in office and Donald Trump won Kentucky?
Then something unexpected happened. Between 2020 and 2022, two million more Kentuckians had registered to vote and Republicans ended up with .04% more than Democrats. But the largest increase was in other parties, including none. In November 2022, Kentuckians rejected a state constitutional amendment that would have banned abortion without exception. Caren, do you know the reason that happened?
“Poor people” is the answer. As every rural politician knows, poor people don’t vote, and if they do, Democrats win every time.
Caren, I know you mean well, but all your talk about poverty, poor education, healthcare and incomes here in Kentucky, is discouraging, even alienating, the people who are on your side. If you want poor people to vote, stop punching us in the face. Stop shaming us. Stop insulting us. Stop talking and start learning.
The first thing you need to learn is that Rural Republicans are terrified of the rural poor. If you can wrap your head around that one fact, you might find you care about the people like you, who just happen to be poor people in rural America. By the way, the same thing applies in rural states, except for those in the north.
Caren, do you know why states like Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, Idaho, and the Dakotas are so different from other rural states? Simply put, rural states in the north, are free states. If you watch the series, Yellowstone, starring Kevin Costner, you will get a good sense of the ethos in free rural states.
What urban Americans fail to comprehend, is the fact that the vast majority of rural America remains colonized (including Hawaii and Alaska). No different than third world countries, a huge percentage of rural Americans still live under colonial rule.
Caren, all those numbers you cite are the well-known symptoms of colonization.
The state of Kentucky has been working hard to free Eastern Kentuckians from colonial occupation. Kentucky is so frigging progressive; our state and university system have partnered with the Netherlands to replace jobs lost in Eastern Kentucky’s heavily colonized coal industry. Mitch McConnell stays in office, because he is working against colonization, which is a huge and extremely complicated challenge that requires someone with McConnell’s intellect and political skills.
On the other hand, Joe Manchin, Democrat from West Virginia and Kevin McCarthy, Republican from California are working to retain, even strengthen, colonial rule in rural America.
Caren, which side are you on? Are you on the side of colonizing corporations? Or are you on the side of rural Americans these corporations keep in poverty?
Caren, New Jersey is also a welfare state. New Jersey does NOT have enough land to grow its own food. As a result, its residents are completely dependent on other states to feed them. 50-80% of all table food eaten by all Americans, is grown in California.
Likewise, New Jersey has no natural resources (no oil, no natural gas reserves, no coal reserves, no minerals of much value and very little timberland). Once again, New Jersey is a welfare state – completely dependent on other states to send it oil, so people can get to work and school.
New Jersey is so land and resource poor, the state is storing 2,660 metric tons of radioactive nuclear waste and more is coming everyday. There is NO radioactive nuclear waste stored anywhere in Kentucky (only eleven states can make that claim).
The relationship between rural and urban states is a lot like WalMart. Colonialization strategies built WalMart. They kept pay so low their employees qualified for welfare. Medicaid, food stamps, subsidized housing, supplemental income and childcare vouchers were all paid by taxpayers.
Likewise, corporations used colonization strategies to seize natural resources in rural states and sell them to rich states, like New Jersey. That $2,368 of your taxes that went to other states paid for Medicaid, food stamps, subsidized housing, supplemental income and childcare vouchers for people working back-breaking and dangerous jobs getting natural resources, and food out of the ground and into your home. Have a little respect for the people who died getting you food, oil, gasoline and everything else you own.
4 symptoms, make colonization easy to spot. 1. Resource extraction. 2. Cheap labour. 3. Extreme poverty. 4. Penal colonies (think Australia). I have just described rural America. I have just explained your numbers.
I repeat, the Congressional Research Service declared Kevin McCarthy’s congressional district worse off than Appalachia (as measured by almost every socio-indicator).
Kevin McCarthy’s congressional district is known as Third World Kern. There are 19 prisons in Kern County alone. America’s highest rate of police shootings per capita is in Kern County, California. I recommend Colin Kaepernick’s documentary, The Killing County - now on Hulu.
Mining is huge in Kern County: gold, oil, natural gas, timber, limestone (cement). The largest borax mine in the world, is in Kern County. Kern County is the 3rd largest oil and 4th largest agricultural producing county in America. Kern County is colonized.
Caren, I am genuinely interested in your thoughts. Thank you for listening (aka reading).
