in rural america people's interactions with the government is mostly the government telling them how they can't use their land for this or that because of environmental regulations that are not related to what they are doing. it's why rural america is against all things environmentalist, because they view it as just another way for the government to tell them what to do with things that are theirs: they view the clean water act as social engineering, done by people from far away who only send their agents to do their bidding. and in many respects they are not wrong.
rural america wants the feds out. the feds want clean environment (...or so they say). surely there can be a better way than regulating people's ditches that overflow when it rains-maybe (the act was supposed to be about navigable waters) e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapanos_v._United_States who cut down some trees 20 miles from any navigable waters (we're talking about a boat with a person in it, not a boat-for-ants) and was fined and threatened with jail under the clean water act. the liberals on the court of course wanted to discuss what about how you could navigate a puddle or whatever, so as to increase the power of the federal government's hands around the neck of rural america, and kennedy, spineless as ever, wouldn't take a position
this just builds seething anger against people from far away preaching at them. f**k those guys, am i right boys?