Just speaking for myself. I am a Midwesterner. I like it in the Midwest. I’ve never seriously been interested in living anywhere else. When I have briefly considered someplace else, it’s always been part of the “flyover”: the South or the Rocky Mountain West. I like a coast, but it’s not one of Bill Maher’s coasts — it’s always the coast of the Carolinas.
Believe it or not, we do have educated people here: doctors, lawyers, engineers. We have some of the finest universities in the world. Ever heard of Purdue or the University of Illinois? I used to work for one of the premier medical diagnostics manufacturers in the world, right here in the flyover. But what exactly does “educated” mean? Does it mean spending four years having your head pumped full of garbage? I know people who are not educated by Bill Maher’s standards: people who are engaged in useful occupations. They build things. They make thinks. They fix things. They grow things. (Do you like to eat, Bill?) They run their own businesses. They put in long days behind the wheel of a truck moving stuff from coast to coast. (Do you getting your stuff, Bill?) They take care of children and old people. They make music and literature. Just like in the “civilized” world of Bill Maher. For the most part, they don’t want to be “you”, Bill. For most, that’s a revolting thought.
Now Bill could take me to task because I have lived in the Chicago area for 35 years. Yes, I have. But I am from southern Illinois, I have family there, and I still feel most at home there. Southern Illinois, Bill. Southern Illinois.