Rural Conservatism or Anarchism?

Are rural people simply more conservative? Certainly, their voting record seems to suggest as much. But such a view misses much about the politics of rural America, especially when one tries to think outside of the ever deepening dichotomy between liberal and conservative. This paper attempts as much, arguing that there are anarchist politics in rural America, facilitated by the long-standing tendency of the state to favor the large (often urban) at the expense of the small (often rural). Those who like to imagine a stateless society form anti-state perspectives, meaning that they don’t like the state and seek less of it. But, anti-statists often don’t see eye to eye on how to achieve a stateless end. Since there is no truly stateless political platform, anti-state views are readily manipulated to garner votes.

Check out the article here!

Note, though, that the early view publication PDF is missing important lines in the table, making it difficult to understand. Here is the correct one: