Hey Aldean, I was raised in a small town. Let me tell ya' 'bout it . . .

[Glaisne]

66. I'll tell you what happened to many of these small towns.

Global free trade and open borders for jobs and money. Many small towns were built around a single factory or industry. Agriculture, timber, fishing, mining, coal, steel, paper, every kind of manufacturing imaginable. Every type of small business imaginable grew around these factories and industries to meet the needs of the people. Then came free trade, deregulation, mergers and acquisitions, privatization, big box stores, budget cuts, trickle-down economics, all pushed by conservatives primarily Republicans but also many Democrats too. These things eviscerated the middle class especially in small and medium sized towns. Right there with it was AM radio which was and is a sink hole of hate radio MAGA lies and propaganda. That put the blame for the declining fortunes of white, rural formally middle-class, small-town folk on the blacks, immigrants, "The Jews", "The Gays", liberals, Democrats anyone else not from their little, small towns that have become poor hollowed out shells of their former selves. Forever ignorant that the people they continuously vote for did this to them and continue to do so. The irony is that many of these places suffer the same issues and have many of the same problems as poor urban centers.