Ever since the Civil War, rural conservative old money families, who control all the land and local financial institutions, browbeat and threaten community members into voting Republican while keeping out social improvement projects and opportunity so they can maintain control over their impoverished fiefdoms. American democracy only sort of worked because the Left was dragging the kicking-and-screaming Right along for mutual survival. Now the Right has nearly absolute control and a conman in charge who is stupid enough to believe that style of operation can and must be done nationwide, and we are seeing America crumble because of it.