This explains the cognitive biases behind your Uber driver's thinking: https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/democracy-suicide-or-why-the-mother-of-the-idiots-is-always-pregnant-0f2f3c066275

I went to b-school in NC from 1987-89 and here's a taste of how it works: The sheriff of a small town in eastern NC was interviewed about the lack of local government spending on education. He also owned the local textile mill. His answer: "why my people need so much ed-u-cay-shun. Workin' for me they make $8/hour."

Colin Woodard's American Nations shows how the American South is essentially feudal. Black and white working class men in NC bear the marks of the sheriff and this history.