I'm going to shrink your post down to it's bare basics - Because liberals have a perceived disregard for the flyover states and their population, you are not going to analyze the entirety of the economic crisis facing rural America.
Your entire post points to things the liberals supposedly have done to the detriment of rural America without a moment's attention to the decades of GOP policy and its effects. Of course, if you look at some specific liberal policy then liberals deserve some blame. But if you look at specific GOP policy and the GOP policy foundation and their intended policy direction, they deserve the vast majority of the blame.
To equate the two is a false equivalency.
I like the umbrella GOP policy direction and I don't particularly care that it hurts rural communities or inner city communities because I think those communities need to evolve. But whenever I see people claim that liberal policy is the cause of rural community failings just because liberals don't like rural America, I know that I'm reading a childish argument that has no relationship to the actual economic policies of the country.
What do you think hurts rural America more - The end of factories or climate change legislation? Before you answer, think about how many different types of factories left and why they left then think about what would have made them stay.
Do you really think that minimum wage legislation hurts rural communities? Before you answer think about what outsourced labor makes in some 3rd world country and how low our wage floor would have to be in order to compete with that.
Do you really think rural America would turn down their medicare, medicaid and food stamps if the trade off was the liberals started saying nice things about them?
It's economics, not a popularity contest. Who cares if they like you if they're screwing you over and who cares if they don't like you, if they're protecting your general economic position?
I think your basics of my points are a bit off; in my response to the OP, I did say SOME of the blame has been on liberal policies;
I'd hate for you to think that you are engaged in a childish discussion, if you feel that way, then you simply shouldn't respond.
-My disposition on the distaste liberal voters have on rural America does not change though;
(just too many examples, from the media, comedic-political pundits, and personal experience)... while trivial in your opinion, this distaste does influence how much help is provided to rural America.
Is it better to give healthcare and food stamps, rather than get these people to some state of employment and self sustainment?
Personally, I am not a proponent for growing and maintaining the welfare state.
Now to address your points:
Both factory closures and overzealous climate control policies have hurt rural America. Natural technological evolution plays a part in this too.
-The trade deals have lead to many factory closures, and the latest regulations have been speeding up the obsolescence of these industries without enough focused efforts to get these same employees into different industries or a different part of the same (energy, in this case) sector.
'Permanent Normal Trade Relations' (Bill Clinton's agenda 1998) is argued to be the single most, detrimental piece of legislation (it was a mod to the Trade act of '74) for manufacturing/factory in the US.(Manufacturing is one of the top 4 jobs outsourced today)
As far as outsourcing services(call centers, human resources, and IT are the examples I'll use (3 of the top 4).
While you may hope shareholders to be empathetic, the fact of the matter is the multi-national prospects' of a larger, global, market share, leads many "U.S." companies to outsource to these other areas, as well as the cheaper labor. Taxing corporations will NOT stop this and will lead to headquarter movement.
-I'll say that if there is somehow an "acceptable" legislation, that won't lead to more companies leaving the US, I'm all for it, but these types of jobs are just too hard to compete with (i.e. India and China's Cost of living are too low, compared to the US)
--Caps on H1-B visa's(significant to the IT industry), and reforming the skill set of Americans via education are two (1 short term, 1 long term) solutions, for some of this outsourcing.
The aforementioned points were to further my disposition on how liberal policies over the past 2 decades have led, IN PART, to today's issues. I reiterate, both parties are to blame, but each have their own broader objectives that are hurting rural America (Corporate profits and globalization (leading to unbalanced trade agreements and costly visa programs))
I always find that many discussion lead to an education and skill set deficiency in the US;
in this particular instance, affordable 4+ year college education in these rural regions may not be a viable solution, but job training, certificate programs, etc. in various job sectors that are growing in these rural regions is what is important here, and my overall point. Slow down the regulations for the interim.
As far as IT and outsourcing... America's skill set has to grow, followed by some clever legislation to incentivize hiring domestically.
-A high, federally imposed, minimum wage will not help.