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We all know that the economies of both inner city Detroit and Rural Appalachia are in distress. In the last few decades, with the decline of the domestic auto and coal industries respectively, these places have taken a severe beating. Employment is down. Drug use is up.
What’s interesting, however, is how disparately Republicans have chosen to frame the situation in these two places. Detroit is supposedly suffering because the people there are stupid and lazy and dependent on government handouts from liberal policies. But Appalachia is supposed to be hardworking Americans who have just been ravaged by liberal policies, and will do fine if they are just left free to keep mining their coal.
But the reason Detroit went broke is the same reason West Virginia is going broke: lack of economic diversification. I know right wingers are trying to blame Detroit’s bankruptcy on “liberal policies”. But the fact is all of Detroit was built on the auto industry, just like the Appalachians was just relying on the coal industry, and with the shifting fortunes of that just one industry, these places are getting hurt.
This is no excuse to call the people who live in such places stupid and lazy and leave them out to die on the street. You help them get back on their feet. That’s what competent and just governments do. There is no “liberal policies” that are hurting Detroit or keeping Appalachia down. There is no fundamental difference in the work ethic of the people living in those places. Trying to do so is not helpful and only helps to polarize the country and keep policies which might help both of them to get back in their feet from being implemented. We should not let Detroit just suffer “until it learns its lesson to work harder”, nor artificially keep trying to prop up an archaic industry in Appalachia in the name of “hard working Americans who just want to be free to work hard”. It’s dysfunctional to paralyze any useful action by just partisan blaming. Let’s stop blaming and roll up our sleeves and start fixing. It’s not communist fascist tyranny for a government to help its people fix such problems. That’s what governments, at least competent ones, are supposed to do.
What’s interesting, however, is how disparately Republicans have chosen to frame the situation in these two places. Detroit is supposedly suffering because the people there are stupid and lazy and dependent on government handouts from liberal policies. But Appalachia is supposed to be hardworking Americans who have just been ravaged by liberal policies, and will do fine if they are just left free to keep mining their coal.
But the reason Detroit went broke is the same reason West Virginia is going broke: lack of economic diversification. I know right wingers are trying to blame Detroit’s bankruptcy on “liberal policies”. But the fact is all of Detroit was built on the auto industry, just like the Appalachians was just relying on the coal industry, and with the shifting fortunes of that just one industry, these places are getting hurt.
This is no excuse to call the people who live in such places stupid and lazy and leave them out to die on the street. You help them get back on their feet. That’s what competent and just governments do. There is no “liberal policies” that are hurting Detroit or keeping Appalachia down. There is no fundamental difference in the work ethic of the people living in those places. Trying to do so is not helpful and only helps to polarize the country and keep policies which might help both of them to get back in their feet from being implemented. We should not let Detroit just suffer “until it learns its lesson to work harder”, nor artificially keep trying to prop up an archaic industry in Appalachia in the name of “hard working Americans who just want to be free to work hard”. It’s dysfunctional to paralyze any useful action by just partisan blaming. Let’s stop blaming and roll up our sleeves and start fixing. It’s not communist fascist tyranny for a government to help its people fix such problems. That’s what governments, at least competent ones, are supposed to do.
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