But for 10 years in downtown Portland, OR, I have lived in rural towns my entire forty-five years. I have also travelled extensively through rural PNW towns with my schooling and work. This does not at all match my experience.
Rural PNW towns not impacted by insane levels of brown/white? Dude, come on. Mexi's (fentanyl pills) are killing so many people right now. Driving so many young girls prostituting themselves. It is horrible.
You lived in rural America and didn't experience families whose only source of meat was what they hunted? Dude, come on. Or families living in ancient trailer homes/campers?
As for the camps, these places aren't really visible or publicized, I bet plenty of locals don't know about our camp town (or choose not to know). It's way out of town and not near any roads.
Yes, there are lots of poor people in rural areas. No, they do not live in tents in giant mountains of garbage with needles littered all around. What you see in Portland is not a product of being poor. It's a product of enabling the worst of society with three free meals a day and no enforcement of drug laws.
There are boatloads of programs to support the urban poor. I donate to many of them. If you need a hand up in Portland, it's there outstretched and straining to reach you. What we have in the streets are not poor people who need help. They are sick, or mentally disabled people. And some are just truly bad people.
Growing up, my own family's primary (at times only) source of protein was fishing and hunting. We somehow struggled through without being degenerates.
I'd like to point out that blue states like NY are making it harder and harder for rural families to support themselves by hunting (legally) through firearm restriction laws that make sense downstate, but no sense upstate.
