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I drove through central Utah; it was on a road with no shoulder and grass growing through some cracks (but well-paved enough to drive at highway speeds). And th

I drove through central Utah; it was on a road with no shoulder and grass growing through some cracks (but well-paved enough to drive at highway speeds). And that was it - the only visible presence of government. There were miles between houses. Many people reading this are in cities. Step outside and look around for the presence of government: Roads, sidewalks, streetlights, stoplights, road signs, police, buses, power lines, sewer, manholes, turn the tap for city water, fire hydrants, regulated things everywhere - buildings, parking, restaurants, etc etc. And people everywhere, of all kinds, almost all of whom you don't know. Perhaps that explains the differing perspectives of people who live in urban and rural areas. And consider that that who lives in rural and who lives in urban areas is to a great extent self-selected.

_delirium 11y ago
I get what you're getting at, but the difference isn't quite that stark among most of the actual population of rural areas, at least today (pre-1930s is another story). There are some really off-the-grid rural areas, and those people have quite different views, but that's less than 1% of the U.S. population. The vast majority of the population of rural areas has grid electricity, running tap water, mail delivery, a phone line, a sheriff's department, etc. The federal government's rural-electrification push still has visible results all over the place, the National Rural Utilities Cooperative is present in thousands of communities, subsidized rural mail delivery is almost ubiquitous, most people's kids go to public schools, kids get vaccinated, many farmers receive government subsidies and loan guarantees, many people have FDIC-insured bank deposits, many people live on Social Security, etc.