Appalachia

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Appalachian Redshift

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cosmic_Redshift_(noirlab2401d).tiff “Redshift is the term used to describe the stretching of wavelengths of the light from an object as a result of the expansion of the Universe; the greater the object’s distance, the greater the redshift.” – Cosmic redshift reminds me of political redshift, watching Appalachia drift further and further away.

My roommate watched Harlan County, USA for a class the other day and it reminded me of something I’ve thought about before – the rural working class of Appalachia is largely responsible for the labor movement and the progress it produced and has now almost entirely shifted heavily right-wing. Appalachia has almost universally shifted from a strong Democratic to a Republican stronghold.

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