For generations, people who live between the East and West coasts have been accustomed to being ignored. To live in Middle America was to live in the middle of nowhere — flyover country, or maybe the Rust Belt.
In recent months, though, it feels like that great overlooked expanse between New York and California has suddenly been making its presence felt in myriad ways, claiming an unfamiliar spot on the national stage. Abortion, infrastructure, supply chains, flooding, food supplies, energy production, even baby formula manufacturing — just about any subject that is top-of-mind nationally has come barreling out of places far from the Acela Corridor and the Pacific Coast Highway.
