A Third-World Within A First -- Rural America in Crisis
By Xavier Oliva May 21, 2018
It was two and a half millennia that the great storyteller Aesop resided in Ancient Greece and told of many tales such as that of the Country Mouse and the City Mouse. The same sentiment of there being disparaging social identities, values between rural and urban are evidently not a new observation, nor do I believe Aesop himself even conjured up the revelation. However, the difference between ever present sectors of culture has--of late--become greater than nuanced opinions. The world views are not different, It is now the world themselves that the American rural population inhabits that differs from their urban counterparts
Ever since World War II, the United States has been the self-proclaimed “greatest country on earth” and has been at the forefront of technological milestones all the way through to present day. To many, it would be a gasp-inducing understatement to deem the United States simply a first-world country, however, through the veil of patriotism and borderline nationalism, it is easy to turn a blind eye to the hardships that American citizens live through on a daily basis. When one thinks of issues that plague society like lack of potable water one conjures up images of Sub-Saharan Africa, war-torn countries halfway around the world, everywhere but our own country. However, to the surprise of many, one needs not travel outside the borders of the United States to even come across a third-world country, they can be found in the rural communities that have been long forsaken.
Foremost, the status of health in these forsaken rural communities is among the most alarming of attributes that liken them to that of developing countries.
Given the privatization of our healthcare system, striving for the highest bidder has left Rural America sick and forgotten. Due to the low population density of these rural communities, it is not cost-effective for there to be a great presence of medical services for those living a far cry from a big city or even a bustling small-town. And with the recent proposed changes to the Affordable Care Act, an act generally beneficial to the poorest of Americans, those in rural areas may be struck with even greater economic burdens and less healthcare options.
In other words, it is not in the best interest of healthcare corporations to help those in need, especially those in rural areas. The statement itself is disgustingly ironic while also being representative of the rural situation surrounding healthcare.
Sadly, the perpetuation of this form of corporatism that seeks to find the only quantifiable success in this capitalistic nation is not limited to just conglomerates.
In western states like California and Colorado, rural communities have been given one more reason to despise big government. Due to rapid population growth in urban hubs and the lack of profitability of agriculture, water has been prioritized in urban areas leading to water transfers from rural areas based on tax revenue. Though water is necessary in these bustling cities, there are unintended consequences, such as the sudden removal of these small agrarian communities’ economic prospects as well as the degradation of said water when in contact with industrial pollutants. And once more the livelihood of Rural America takes a backseat to profits showing once more that human life may just be quantifiable in the form of currency and thus can be prioritized as that, a dollar sign.
However, the greatest issue that plagues the once great heartland of the United States is one that is a nationwide motif, that being drug abuse. With the rise of opioid prescriptions in the 1990s due to the back-breaking labor of both urban industry and rural agriculture, the country’s death toll to the once-unregulated drug has steadily increased to the point of it being impossible not to note by both the general population and the media. And though the problem of drug abuse has been at the forefront of national debate since the early Temperance movements, the urban facet of this plague on society has been given all of the attention with the rural aspect only being acknowledged as recently as this millennium. This urban bias is only made more observed when it is noted that “there were 300 times more seizures of meth labs in Iowa in 1999, for example, than in New York and New Jersey combined. (Egan).
As years have gone by, the heartland of America has quietly regressed to the days of the Dust Bowl, in many cases, as urbanization has pushed the rural lifestyle from being sustainable. It is difficult to tell the outcome of Rural America, however one thing is for sure--history repeats itself and this is just another instance.
Ever since World War II, the United States has been the self-proclaimed “greatest country on earth” and has been at the forefront of technological milestones all the way through to present day. To many, it would be a gasp-inducing understatement to deem the United States simply a first-world country, however, through the veil of patriotism and borderline nationalism, it is easy to turn a blind eye to the hardships that American citizens live through on a daily basis. When one thinks of issues that plague society like lack of potable water one conjures up images of Sub-Saharan Africa, war-torn countries halfway around the world, everywhere but our own country. However, to the surprise of many, one needs not travel outside the borders of the United States to even come across a third-world country, they can be found in the rural communities that have been long forsaken.
Foremost, the status of health in these forsaken rural communities is among the most alarming of attributes that liken them to that of developing countries.
Given the privatization of our healthcare system, striving for the highest bidder has left Rural America sick and forgotten. Due to the low population density of these rural communities, it is not cost-effective for there to be a great presence of medical services for those living a far cry from a big city or even a bustling small-town. And with the recent proposed changes to the Affordable Care Act, an act generally beneficial to the poorest of Americans, those in rural areas may be struck with even greater economic burdens and less healthcare options.
In other words, it is not in the best interest of healthcare corporations to help those in need, especially those in rural areas. The statement itself is disgustingly ironic while also being representative of the rural situation surrounding healthcare.
Sadly, the perpetuation of this form of corporatism that seeks to find the only quantifiable success in this capitalistic nation is not limited to just conglomerates.
In western states like California and Colorado, rural communities have been given one more reason to despise big government. Due to rapid population growth in urban hubs and the lack of profitability of agriculture, water has been prioritized in urban areas leading to water transfers from rural areas based on tax revenue. Though water is necessary in these bustling cities, there are unintended consequences, such as the sudden removal of these small agrarian communities’ economic prospects as well as the degradation of said water when in contact with industrial pollutants. And once more the livelihood of Rural America takes a backseat to profits showing once more that human life may just be quantifiable in the form of currency and thus can be prioritized as that, a dollar sign.
However, the greatest issue that plagues the once great heartland of the United States is one that is a nationwide motif, that being drug abuse. With the rise of opioid prescriptions in the 1990s due to the back-breaking labor of both urban industry and rural agriculture, the country’s death toll to the once-unregulated drug has steadily increased to the point of it being impossible not to note by both the general population and the media. And though the problem of drug abuse has been at the forefront of national debate since the early Temperance movements, the urban facet of this plague on society has been given all of the attention with the rural aspect only being acknowledged as recently as this millennium. This urban bias is only made more observed when it is noted that “there were 300 times more seizures of meth labs in Iowa in 1999, for example, than in New York and New Jersey combined. (Egan).
As years have gone by, the heartland of America has quietly regressed to the days of the Dust Bowl, in many cases, as urbanization has pushed the rural lifestyle from being sustainable. It is difficult to tell the outcome of Rural America, however one thing is for sure--history repeats itself and this is just another instance.
No comments:
Post a Comment