An index measuring poverty, health, and social mobility reveals that the most disadvantaged places in the U.S. are not major cities like Chicago or LA, but rather rural counties in Appalachia, the South Texas border, and the Southern Cotton Belt.
The US is a federation of nine distinct regional cultures whose centuries-old values are stronger predictors of life expectancy, economic mobility, and even credit scores than traditional factors like wealth, race, or education.
The opioid epidemic is fueled by a lack of things to do, as community hubs like theaters, parks, and libraries have disappeared. Rebuilding this 'social infrastructure' provides purpose and connection, acting as a powerful, non-clinical intervention against drug addiction.
In America's most disadvantaged regions, entrenched public corruption and elite exploitation of resources are a far greater cause of persistent poverty than the behavior of the poor. This pattern of 'elite extraction' endures across generations, subverting aid programs.
The current conflict between universal rights and ethno-nationalism isn't new; it is a direct resurgence of a counter-narrative crafted in the 1830s by Southern intellectuals who argued that only the Anglo-Saxon race could handle liberty, in order to defend slavery.
Data analysis across health, wealth, safety, and longevity reveals that regions prioritizing communal well-being consistently achieve better outcomes than those prioritizing radical individual liberty, challenging a core American political narrative.