It speaks to how much the country fucking sucks. The infrastructure, physically and socially, in most of the country is abysmal. I used to have to travel to deep deep West Virginia, the Dakotas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana for work (O&G stuff), and coming back it felt like the speech from the end of Blade Runner. "You wouldn't believe what I've seen". They're angry people, angry mostly at themselves, and projecting that anger outward.

It's hard to put into words the feeling of going to a country with regular healthcare and social programs and education and coming back to the US. MA is one of the few places that even tries to keep pace. And on top of that we have to support people killing themselves "to own the libs".

I'm gonna be called an "ivory tower liberal" or some shit despite that I grew up on scraps, but guys I'm telling you, those rural white people are angrier than you think, much wealthier than you think, angrier than you think, and for dumber reasons than you think. There is no "economic anxiety", most of them are wealthier than people in cities. I'm a brown guy with a Boston accent, I've been physically threatened with violence by people on work sites. First time I went to West Virginia, a guy who I thought I had a great day with, slammed his Confederate flag wallet on the table at lunch, and would not take his eyes off me. The site boss whispered to me to not get out of my seat and to keep my cool, for my own safety because he couldnt control that guy.

So yeah, we're stressed up here because we do our best to keep the country afloat while they want to actively kill us. I don't like that guy, but I wish him well and love him and hope what we do here keeps him fed. I'd rather be here than anywhere else in the country, but everywhere else in the country is actively trying to hurt us for it.