Most people are familiar with Stockholm Syndrome, but have you heard about Springfield Syndrome? The two share some features, but the latter, I believe explains what has (IMO) been widely, but inaccurately described as the great rightward turn in political opinions and voting among the rural, white working class.
As farm and rangeland control consolidated in fewer and fewer hands, the fates of the shrinking number of rural residents have been increasingly dependent on the whims of a tiny ...