This is one of the more pompous things I have read of late around some of the rural assumptions. Urban areas don't offer any better "opportunities" when you consider lower income areas. So, a lot of your arguments are hard to follow.

It is true that a lot of rural areas tend to be "more conservative", but honestly liberal and conservative are really hard to argue in this day and age. Both aren't what they were 10+ years ago. Both are parodies of that time with extreme ideologies with no room for the middle.

As someone born and raised in the bay area and spent decades living there, it isn't the bay area I grew up in. There used to be a broader community feel, there used to be more open space, there used to be a broader cross section of beliefs and ideas. Now it's a mix of liberal echo chamber letting communities go to shit due to "compassion", a bunch of transplant tech dweebs with no investment in the community - just chasing the mighty dollar, and a huge community that still exists providing services and looked down upon by many of said transplants. (Yes, there are more groups then that, but those are some pretty obvious ones).

The narrow mindedness of tech about the community they migrate to, the ignorance of what the community was and the people still there is actually a pretty big problem. The preponderance of a prejudice on this site that an urban lifestyle is better due to density, etc. is pretty prevalent as well.

I now live in a rural community. Is it all that I want? Not one bit. My partner and I decided to fill our lack of spare time with a retail shop around a mutual interest during the second year of covid and record CA fires. Was it bright? No. Has it given us a better connection to the community and the people here, yes. I have weekly discussions with people connected to generations of forestry as well as 60+ y/o individuals who have spent decades experimenting with foods that could grow at 4500 feet mentioning how things have changed. I also interact regularly with blue collar truckers, mill workers, teachers, etc. Some of these conversations have been much deeper than any that I had interacting with the generic bay area tech person.

Rural areas also have problems. A smaller population means the food selection can be a challenge, drug problems can be exasperated (that said, SF and Santa Cruz are WAY WORSE than up here), be prepared for everyone to know your business - good or bad.

The above post approaches a log of rural from a tech person perspective.

I think the average HN person would do well to get out of their routine and spend time in the communities outside their little bubble.

I've been in this rural part of CA for about 6.5 years after 7x that in the bay area. I couldn't live in the Bay Area again because it has changed from my childhood, my teen, college and into mid adult years. Palo Alto and Mountain View have become a joke of what they once were. There are still pockets worth visiting - restaurants, culture, etc. - but the quality of life has changed. Everything is crowded.

The sad thing, with Covid, rural areas went from being a place that was a bit different to being infested with the same sort of people that claim rural communities have issues.

But, what do I know.