cross-posted from: https://lemmit.online/post/2668759
Rural areas in the US tend to be conservative electoral strongholds. However, it wasn’t always the case. The shift happened in the post-WWII period when technological changes enabled the rise of c…
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The original was posted on /r/science by /u/smurfyjenkins on 2024-04-15 15:45:02.
Original Title: Rural areas in the US tend to be conservative electoral strongholds. However, it wasn’t always the case. The shift happened in the post-WWII period when technological changes enabled the rise of capital-intensive agriculture and the rising power of agribusiness who favored Republican policies.
Naw. Reagan put the flag on the teevee and said “you flyover folk’re tr00 Murican patreets, now lemme take away all taxpayer funded services an give that money to the rich” and the rural folks saluted and whooped and hollered.
Newspapers and radio at the time (and even some tv, believe it or not) said this is what was happening, and “blue collar Republicans” ignored it.
Then Reagan said tv and radio didn’t have to have balanced political opinions and talk radio lobotomized the next two generations without even trying. Propaganda works, just as republiQan strategist Joseph Göebbels predicted.