The Rural Poverty Megathread -- "Too Poor to Afford Guns and Religion"

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > The Rural Poverty Megathread -- "Too Poor to Afford Guns and Religion"

ComradeCosmobot: Dec 4, 2004; USPOL July

Thanks for the write up. Would you agree that education (and the corresponding reaction of anti-intellectualism) is one of the biggest hurdles in helping improve the lot of rural livelihoods?

And if so, are you aware of any programs that have helped to ameliorate that vicious circle (education is bad so rural interests grow more anti-intellectual, such that their voting makes their education systems to get worse)?

# ¿ Aug 26, 2016 17:41

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# ¿ May 19, 2024 07:10

ComradeCosmobot: Dec 4, 2004; USPOL July

readingatwork posted:

Better education would help with anti-intellectual mindsets but I don't see how that improves the economic situation of a town who's only job creation mechanism was moved overseas. It certainly won't make them vote Democrat if that's what you're thinking.

Sorry, I should have elaborated on my thinking. My thought about education is that the lack of education makes it harder to get effective solutions to the economic issues passed.

Like it or not, manufacturing jobs that pay as well as they used to aren't coming back. Any solution to the economic problem has to address that underlying aspect of macroeconomic change, which is why we see reactive answers, like killing unions and the minimum wage in vain to keep the remaining jobs here, or ending globalism to bring the jobs back.

None of these three policy solutions will actually bring good paying jobs back, but rural sentiment often rejects such claims through the ongoing anti-intellectualism that is a hallmark of their being left behind from an educational standpoint. As a result, rural politics can often seem self-defeating precisely because of this anti-intellectualism and the consequent certain-to-fail policies often promoted from the rural areas themselves.

Of course the alternative is not much more appealing. All too often, "serious" policy discussions get watered down ("job training" anyone? Or how about the endless calls for people to "just move", for which the OP has already presented the counter argument) so rural politics does have a point when they claim that intellectuals have failed them. Intellectual policies have, at least for now, proven to be diffuse in their actions and diffuse in their results, such that the immediate impact of another closed factory weighs so much more than the promise that "at least your kids will be able to participate in the knowledge economy!"

I guess what I'm getting at is the fact that the anti-intellectualism fostered by poor education not only limits opportunities (what "knowledge economy" company wants to put a branch where locals can't actually compete for jobs?) but also solutions (because easy to understand "common-sense" solutions that are demonstrably short-sighted are so much more easily favored over more complex solutions that are comparatively untested but may hold better long-term prognoses.)

So in short, it feels like it's hard to help rural areas succeed because their level of education (and consequent anti-intellectualism) works against any such (practical) help.

# ¿ Aug 26, 2016 21:19

ComradeCosmobot: Dec 4, 2004; USPOL July

Tiny Brontosaurus posted:

Mincome, full public health coverage including vision, dental, and family planning.

A revamp of public education to include a holistic, household-focused emphasis on poverty reduction modeled on the recent success in a St. Louis-area school district that did things like provide bags of groceries to parents coming in for parent-teacher conferences.

A rural-electrification-style push for high speed internet.

Community organizing focused around local schools, churches, nursing homes, and community centers to combat social isolation and provide much-needed entertainment and happiness.

Moving expense grants for people who voluntarily want to move away, buyouts for the elderly who will have no one to sell their home to when the time comes. Edit: Not moving the elderly out of their homes, just a deal where the homeowners get some retirement cash and the government has the right to sell/bulldoze/repurpose their home after they vacate or die.

Job creation through public works projects to repair neglected infrastructure and maintain natural resources.

Harness the unparalleled propagandizing power of television to depict rural families with dignity and accurately reflect their diversity, both ethnically and politically.

Expanded public transportation, which may be more like an on-call ride van service than traditional bus/train options, so the poor and elderly aren't stranded in their homes.

Funding for small and mid-sized businesses with an intentional aim to create local/regional economic activity.

Judgment-free drug-addiction treatment, including decriminalization and sites for safe, monitored use for people who aren't likely to be cured.

More baseball fields. I like baseball.

I have always said that I would vote for any candidate willing to push for a new WPA and/or new, new deal (although I recently came across a nativist candidate who proposed exactly that, so maybe not always...). But the problem often seems to be that these rural areas vote for candidates who are ideologically opposed to exactly that.

What can you realistically do?

# ¿ Aug 26, 2016 21:33

ComradeCosmobot: Dec 4, 2004; USPOL July

Lastgirl posted:

Let's be honest, rural Louisiana is below sea level and practically a swamp. Their towns are going to submerge =/

"No one asked you. Now save us and fix our rural swamp town."

# ¿ Aug 27, 2016 03:15

ComradeCosmobot: Dec 4, 2004; USPOL July

computer parts posted:

Interested to learn where California's city would be.

Trick question: California separates into two states.

# ¿ Aug 29, 2016 06:23

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > The Rural Poverty Megathread -- "Too Poor to Afford Guns and Religion"