Digging deeper

That would be the holes that rural and rust belt areas are digging for themselves with policies designed to inflict the most economic pain on the inhabitants.  Paul Krugman points out in 1930, Mississippi had an average per capita income only 30% of Massachusetts.  Thanks to New Deal policies and overall growth, that disparity shrank and by 1970 Mississippi was up to 70% of Massachusetts income on a per capita basis.  Since that time the pendulum has swung back and now the average is back to 55%.  Meanwhile, Kansas and Oklahoma, which were both prosperous in the 70's  have enacted tax cutting policies which have gutted their education systems which have turned out an increasingly poorly prepared work force.  This has reinforced the advantages of coastal areas who have consistently encouraged information based jobs and supported their education infrastructure.  Meanwhile, Kevin Drum points to a study which shows that instead of voters influencing their elected officials, it seems the opposite is true.  Senators seem to form their opinions and communicate them to voters, who in tribal fashion adopt those views as their own.   This would explain the bulk of republican voters who continue to embrace policies which do them economic and in the case of environmental laws actual physical harm.   We are headed in the direction of two nations; a highly educated tech society contrasted with an ignorant and increasingly authoritarian flyover country with isolated pockets of post industrial power.  How this mess is reconciled along with the many other problems we face will determine if this nation remains e pluribus Unum.