What can we do about dying communities?

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This chart is devastating. "Objector districts" refers to Congressional districts where, whether they were being honest or not, Republican Congress members felt they had to vote to reject the Electoral College tally that gave Joe Biden the presidency. In some states, that meant saying their own majorities were tainted by fraud.

Turns out, one of the characteristics that distinguishes these districts, even from other Republican districts, is higher adult mortality -- the so-called "deaths of despair" from addictions, the ill health often goes with hard lives, and high suicide rates. 

COVID exacerbated the existing pattern but didn't really change it.

The New York Times investigation from which this is drawn should be devastating even to those of us who have devoted ourselves to defeating the world view these districts cling to.