Why are Red States so astonishingly stupid?

I've lived in a red state my entire life. I've watched it go from a thoughtful, mostly Republican but with a lot of Democrat influence, a successful, happy state, to the state of all red states - angry, poorer, myopic, ignorant, etc. It's sad to watch, so as it began to happen I was really interested in what was occurring. This is my take on it:

All images and captions by the editors, not the author

Paul Harvey being decorated by proto-fascist George W Bush. Living to 90, Harvey had plenty of time to poison the mind of many generations.

A whole lot of the state is rural, and a lot of the state has very small business. It seemed like they ALL listen to AM radio. It started with conservatives like Paul Harvey. When I was in college, in the summer I would work labor jobs with guys that had more skills than I. At lunch, it was considered impolite to speak when Paul Harvey was on. It was that way on every job I had of the like. They hung onto AM radio because cable came to the country and small towns much later than the larger areas. TV was three channels if you were lucky, so everybody still listened to AM radio. Then came the beginning of the end. Rush Limbaugh was a good example.

Historically, as observed in many countries, starting in the 1930s with Italy, Germany, Spain, Romania, etc., and later in the 1970s with places like Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, etc., the backbone of the fascist movement has been the lower middle class and small business people. But, in all countries, and at all times, most of the upper class, the propertied tiers, are the ones who justified, instigated, and supported the rise of fascism. In all these class conflicts te US sided with the fascists. 

Rush Limbaugh: Only in America would a cynical big mouth like this command such a following.

The people I knew, the farmers on their tractors, the people working skilled labor jobs, the people with small businesses etc. continued to listen. It was like Hitler's giving away radios to pick up his propaganda; only without even having to supply the radios! Day in and day out, they listened to propaganda, ALL THE TIME. They still do. But, now they pick it up on the internet when they're not out working or if there's wifi. It did to them what Hitler's propaganda did to Germany. I don't know what happened after that, I tried to tune it out. It was so far ingrained by then that it didn't matter. It was like hitting a baseball at a window and standing there watching and waiting to see what's going to happen.

This said, I don't mean to imply this applies to everyone in a red state. In fact, it might apply to a small majority, it just depends on where you're at. I in no way mean to state everyone in a red state is stupid or brainwashed or anything like that. Anytime you paint everyone with the same brush, you've just joined the bigots.

Well, for the first time ever, I just shut off the comments. I don't know what happened, but all the sudden I started getting all kinds of shrill personal attacks. If you read this you can see I was just remarking on my experience and my thoughts on it.