[colmvp]

I think this is why at times I have a hard time empathizing.

It's one thing to prefer having lower taxes and allowing the market to sort out itself. To want to enforce immigration more stringently. To want to have states operate more independently from the federal government. There are strong arguments for either side.

But so many of the representatives seek their own benefit at the cost of the country and own constituents, only to then blame the other side on falsities. The ACA is one prime example of something that was completely mischaracterized by a huge portion of the Republicans who misinformed their constituents on its effect. You can see this by rural Americans living in enrolled states who personally benefited from joining Medicaid but then elected to vote for Trump partially in the hopes of repealing and replacing the ACA. And this is further exemplified by Republican representatives who rallied to repeal the ACA over and over again, but are now hesitant to actually go through with it because of the realization that a good portion of their constituents are covered and benefiting from it.

[hn_throwaway_99]

There have been a lot of articles recently highlighting poor rural Trump voters who are shocked and surprised that a lot of programs they depend upon (Meals on Wheels, Medicaid) are now on the chopping block. It's really, really difficult to have empathy in these situations.

Similarly, as a gay man who saw nothing but disgust and contempt from rural areas for decades (and still does), and an active crusade to demonize me and take away my rights, NOW the argument is that we don't have enough compassion for rural areas?

As much as I want to be logical about this, the emotional part of me is just going "Seriously, fuck off. If you want things to get better, move out of your ass-backwards shithole town like I did 20 years ago and find a better place to live."