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It’s a lose-lose for poverty-stricken whites searching for solidarity. So instead they anchor their life to cigarettes and booze. They are taught to hate themselves, to think that life in a dirty, dented trailer is all they should expect, and to not have a stake in their future because the rest of the country doesn”€™t want them.

A change is desperately needed, but with the 2016 campaign season in full swing, it’s doubtful any of the presidential aspirants will get far on appeals to the white working class. With the exception of Donald Trump, Republicans are too busy genuflecting before the Wall Street gods. Democrats now openly despise and mock pale country yokels.

For the near future, the social expectation will remain the same: Poor white folk don”€™t deserve to rise to a decent level of propriety. They deserve to have lost the stability, faith, duty-mindedness, and mild temperament that once defined Middle America. And sadly, I”€™m not sure how best to restore those things to a people who haven”€™t experienced them in a long time.

Giving attention to this moral crisis could be a good start.