Community Americans don’t realize how fast the country is moving toward becoming a better version of itself. The Atlantic’s James Fallows and his wife Deb have been visiting places that voted for Trump, places like Mississippi and Kansas and South Dakota and inland California and Rust Belt Pennsylvania. Yes, they found countless examples of rips in the social fabric, deep political divides, and of desperation that is reflected in rising rates of chronic disease, addiction, and suicide. But, surprisingly, they also found that the national prospect is full of possibilities that the bleak trench warfare of national politics obscures. “Serious as the era’s problems are, more people, in more places, told us they felt hopeful about their ability to move circumstances the right way than you would ever guess from national news coverage of most political discourse.” People, it seems, act really differently at the local level than they do when they are rallying around national party politics. Article: The Reinvention of America