Nostalgia aside, the relics of old industry are indicative of the paralyzing greed that infected the Country’s industrial infrastructure.
I embrace new technologies and rebuilding old infrastructure. But what we see left behind is abandonment of industrial exceptionalism. The woebegone mills, factories, and railroads are the visible symbols of the desertion.
I like your insight. You can couple people within the concept of desertion. American citizens are abandoned by American corporations in the economic limbo contest for the lowest cost and the fastest buck. American corporations with the power of free speech [read dollars] to influence the election process to sanctify their dissolution of the American economy.
We must make more of what we import or we will continue to skid toward our meltdown as a world power. If corporations are unwilling to make in this [their] country, then there must be tariffs to equalize the difference in what countries buy from us and what we buy from them.
Sure, these feelings help us embrace traditional virtues that are timeless, and it's also fun to enjoy good old mindless romantic emotions when we say, pretend that a thousand years ago there were knights in shining armor rescuing fair damsels. We can later put that stuff back in perspective when we actually have to look into historical records and we see that what happened was not quite so dreamlike.
Romanticizing the family farm of the 1800's or the mills/factories/railroads or the 1900's has it's place too. Just the same, policy for the here and now has got to include a solid connection to reality or else we're just throwing away our hard earned wealth and making millions suffer needlessly.