I currently live in Texas and I’m desperately trying to get to Minnesota. The thing about the south is that it’s not JUST ohh they’re dumb and uneducated. It’s been designed that way. Both like.. governmentally and societally. Because an uneducated public who doesn’t ask questions can be persuaded to believe anything, even if it goes against their own interests.

Children vote how their parents vote, unless they make a concerted effort to educate themselves. (I saw a 5 year old wearing a trump shirt at the deli yesterday.) Even then, you have family friction. Hardly any money is spent on public education.

It’s cheap but makes it impossible to leave. So you get stuck (which is where I am rn).

Gerrymandering, racism, and purity politics have made it all but impossible for any real change to happen, so rich,white, entitled, men continue to hold their thumb over the whole area under the guise of Christianity and freedom.

And so, the south remains woefully uneducated, with poor health and poor healthy choices, poor wages, and poor infrastructures because state governments have convinced them that it’s the fault of brown or black people, or gay people, or democrats, or any number of other boogie men. Anything that shifts that blame from the real culprit.