To the Editor:
Re “The Thriller of White Rural Rage,” by Paul Krugman (column, Feb. 27):
In 2006 I rode my bicycle throughout the nation. From San Diego to Georgia I traveled over lengthy stretches of empty street that related small rural communities.
What I sensed in every of those small communities was the consolation of familiarity. The folks know each other. Due to this intimacy, this group household if you’ll, they’re inclined to forgive throughout the household however, I believe, are inclined guilty others on the “exterior” for the ills that befall them.
Christian values, love of God and nation, are imagined to be an inoculation in opposition to dangerous issues. But nearly each per capita statistic — teen being pregnant, gun deaths, toddler mortality, spousal abuse, drug use, alcoholism, poverty — exhibits an inherent, not extrinsic, drawback in rural America.
Rural residents, as Mr. Krugman factors out, stay on the “destruction facet of the equation,” however expertise alone is to not blame. A distorted worry of outdoor forces perpetuated by a conservative political agenda and the dream of returning to the halcyon days which are by no means coming again is holding them captive.
Reed Caster
Warren, R.I.
To the Editor:
Right here in flyover nation the resentment is palpable, symbolized by billboards alongside I-70 that announce, “One Kansas Farmer Feeds Greater than 155 Individuals + You!” Translation: If we don’t do what we do (develop your meals), it doesn’t matter what you do (sort in your keyboards).
Small-town and rural individuals are merely uninterested in being unseen and due to this fact disrespected. I doubt there’s a single salve for that resentment, however right here’s one suggestion for city-dwellers: Get humble and curious; get in your automobile and spend a day in a rural tradition. And hear.
Roger Gustafson
Stilwell, Kan.
To the Editor:
Paul Krugman has received it improper. He says the agricultural ache attributable to the “artistic destruction” of expertise is alleviated by an enormous switch of city tax {dollars} to poor rural states, {dollars} which are “obtainable to all Individuals.” Excuse me? Medicare and Social Safety gained’t be obtainable to 20-somethings for 40 years. When you’ve got marketable abilities, you make an excessive amount of cash to be on Medicaid.
Rural people expertise little or no switch of tax {dollars}. In my small city, we’ve got no native police, and our well being system is woefully underfunded. Web is dear or nonexistent. Our fundamental streets are a shadow of their former selves. And worst of all, Covid drove metropolis people to maneuver right here and switch inexpensive rental properties into costly properties and Airbnbs. Now housing is unaffordable.
Why don’t people transfer to town? We have now a top quality of life you may solely dream of — however we can’t pay the payments.
Rage? Not a thriller! We’ve been deserted!
Terry Lochhead
Brownfield, Maine
To the Editor:
I come from a spot (although I left it way back and am now what you’d name an “elite,” I suppose) that voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump twice and nearly definitely will once more. The conundrum that Paul Krugman describes is at first vexing however ultimately is easy.
How can individuals who have misplaced a lot vote for somebody who cares for his or her plight solely to the extent that he’ll get their vote? The difficulty is rooted in emotion, not knowledge. It’s onerous to generalize, however generalize we generally should. Many Trump voters really feel ostracized by a media and political tradition that at greatest has deserted them and at worst mocks them. So, within the phrases of Mr. Trump himself, what have they received to lose?
They don’t all uniformly worship him, both. What they see is somebody who will do one thing, even when it’s to make that different political and cultural class squirm and fret.
Mr. Krugman will get to the underside of the problem when he mentions the lack of dignity in these locations. Denied that, folks will seek for it elsewhere.
Paul Bone
Denton, Texas
To the Editor:
For political benefit, one among our main political events has maintained for greater than 40 years that “authorities is the issue.” How might this marketing campaign not generate rage on the a part of these Individuals more and more in want of assist?
The worry and resentment ensuing from this delusion supplied a useful distraction from the migration of wealth from our decrease and center courses to the highest, and made authorities motion to right the issue harder.
The perfect response is inexpensive greater schooling, little one care, medical health insurance and job retraining for the agricultural work drive, financed by a rollback of irresponsible tax giveaways to the wealthy. That may be made doable solely by electoral rejection of the political drive that created the issue within the first place.
Eric R. Carey
Arlington, Va.
To the Editor:
Paul Krugman wonders why rural whites “assist politicians who inform them lies they need to hear.”
The reply is apparent: Fact is not any match for lies when one’s tribal identification as a white particular person is felt to be below assault.
Lyndon Johnson knew this unhappy reality again in 1960, telling his aide Invoice Moyers: “When you can persuade the bottom white man he’s higher than one of the best coloured man, he gained’t discover you’re selecting his pocket. Hell, give him someone to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”
Rural whites began doing that in earnest after the ink dried on L.B.J.’s signing of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. They joined different whites in abandoning their decades-long standing as linchpins of the Democrats’ New Deal coalition, flocking as an alternative to the get together that has tried to undermine Social Safety, Medicare and Medicaid from their inception.
The rise of Donald Trump has borne out L.B.J.’s blunt evaluation, as rural whites have been solely too prepared to swallow Republican lies that make them really feel higher as they blame handy scapegoats for his or her financial woes.
Bryan L. Tucker
Boston
To the Editor:
The trend that Paul Krugman describes will not be solely restricted to whites. Many within the mainstream media are likely to view each contentious concern by way of the lens of race.
Within the rural group wherein I reside, the trend is felt and expressed by our African American and Latino residents as nicely. In addition they really feel that native, state and federal governments in addition to the financial system have change into stacked in opposition to them by the enactment and punitive enforcement of woke progressive insurance policies.
Individuals in our rural group are sick of political correctness, cancel tradition and performative advantage signaling as they’ve solely engendered elevated divisiveness. Persons are legitimately offended and are craving for a return to a extra rational and reasonable strategy to addressing the problems which are very important to their well-being.
For probably the most half, people don’t give a rattling about your pronouns. What they do care about and wish are improved entry to high quality well being care, extra equitable allocation of federal funds for infrastructure enhancements, depoliticized instructional packages, extra sturdy assist of rural financial improvement zones and technical work drive coaching alternatives.
The appearance of synthetic intelligence and robotic manufacturing processes has added to an elevated sense of insecurity, worry and anger in our rural communities.
David Wrenn
Mill Spring, N.C.
To the Editor:
Paul Krugman writes that white rural rage — stemming from job losses — is “arguably the one best menace going through American democracy.”
However how a lot of a menace, I ponder, does Mr. Krugman suppose the nation’s metropolitan residents will pose once they lose their comfortable white-collar jobs to A.I.?
Will we think about that the present center and higher courses shall be much less offended than rural folks are actually? Or do we expect that these courses will usher in an period of resentment and anger not like something we’ve ever seen?
Maybe the elite media class will develop extra empathy for unemployed, offended, white rural folks within the coming years and spend much less time blaming them for being a menace to democracy.
Matthew Pierce
Ruther Glen, Va.
