(especially "fly-over country" States) are dominated by a handful of obscenely rich people who own the politicians. ALEC, etc., were designed to weaken that grip (or else buy them off), in a concerted corporate effort resulting in the classic "race to the bottom" scenario we're now experiencing, which is continuing to erode the corporate tax base in States. More and more of the tax burden has been shoved onto individuals, and they are fed up.
So the whole Republican con-game at the D.C. level is to side with the so-called "little guy" (aka white, suburban and rural landowners) in decrying that the "problem" is those city-slickers sucking up all the money, when in reality, it's all going to fewer and fewer giant monopolies. Political leftists started pointing that out, and were making good headway in the electorate (especially after the 2008 Wall Street meltdown) so they were desperate to create some sort-of FDR type rich guy on the Right, and here comes the Trumpster fire!
Our corporate overlords couldn't care less about all the racist, hateful demagoguery, and continue to manipulate politicians in both parties, trying to keep the lid on the outrage as long as their ever-widening profit margins are maintained. The next financial crash, which is inevitable at this point, will give us the opportunity to either redress this fundamental inequality/planetary destruction deficit, or descend into fascist chaos.
What they haven't considered is the ongoing environmental destruction's increasing impact on everyday lives. They're moving too slow to react, and have no workable solutions that fit within their "drown big government in a bathtub" ideology (purely self-serving), which will slow the continuing devastation. Big government - really big government, on a massive, global scale - is required if we are to have any kind of hope of solving this problem. They thought they had time to monetize any solutions, and figure out a way to "privatize" the money (meaning stealing our tax dollars for more profits), but it is now spiraling out of control, and impossible to "fix" by some sales pitch merely preserving that status quo. Calving glaciers and super-storms just ain't gonna wait.
It's gonna get ugly from here on out.
Welcome to Chapel Perilous. Welcome to the end of humanity's adolescent phase.
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