in many ways, rule america now looks a lot like detroit. this is striking because rural americans don't have anything in common with inner cities. different cultures, political the rule if the pathologies of modern rural america are familiar to anyone who visited baltimore the 1980s, high male unemployment, a terrifying drug epidemic, two different worlds, similar outcomes. how did this happen? you think our ruling class would be deeply interested in knowing the answer, but mostly they are not. they do not have to be interested. it's too important for forward labor to take advantage of normal americans living behind. but republicans now represent a rural voters. they ought to be interested. and here's a big part of the answer: male wages decline. manufacturing, a male dominant in industry, disappeared over the course of a generation bit