Wayne Flynt, a retired professor at Auburn University, has written much about poor whites in his native Alabama. In his book, Keeping the Faith, Flynt suggests an answer to why the less advantaged so often vote for politicians who pass legislation detrimental to them.

“For ordinary people, black and white, who were just moving inside the magic circle of middle-class economic security, fear of losing the first home they had ever owned or the private academy where they sent their kids to school, made them easy prey to demagogues and fearmongers with much greater wealth to protect.”

Working class folks, scrambling to hold down jobs, juggling too many tasks, have little time to read analytical articles or surf the net for opinion pieces. They are prey for those leaders who filter the news for them.

Self-addicted politicians, often wealthy or in league with the wealthy, know how to exploit fear. They play on fear, touting themselves as saviors to defeat all enemies, whether real or imagined, as easily as Hans Solo shoots a storm trooper.

Celluloid heroes aren’t much help when we leave the theater, though.