Some say the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

On USA Network’s “Damnation,” intentions might as well be tumbleweed and that road is drenched in blood.

In a hardscrabble town in 1931 Iowa, preacher Seth Davenport (Killian Scott, “Ripper Street”) urges his flock to revolt against the institutions crushing them.

The farmers are striking because local price fixing makes it impossible for them to pay back the loans on their homes, allowing the bank to profit on their foreclosures. Seth keeps their spirits up and hits back at malcontents in ways not advised by the Bible. His idea of Jesus packs heat. Spoiler: This man of God might be sincere in his beliefs, but the collar he wears is phony.

His companion Amelia (Sarah Jones, “The Path”), believed to be his wife, hides more than dry biscuits in her picnic basket. She wonders about Seth’s past, but he only admits that he is trying to atone for something horrible.

A hired strikebreaker hits town like a lightning bolt. Creeley Turner (Logan Marshall-Green, “Quarry”) is almost supernaturally fast with a gun and seems ready to go to almost any length to satisfy his employer’s demands. He holes up in a brothel with a prostitute who has renamed herself Bessie Louvin (Chasten Harmon, “Elementary”). Her greatest asset, from his point of view, is her ability to read. Creeley just might have one line he won’t or can’t cross and that conflict looks to drive the series.

In these divisive times, creator/writer/executive producer Tony Tost (“Longmire”) has crafted a drama that is unabashedly political. He depicts a ruthless conspiracy among the town’s major institutions — the police, the bank and the newspaper, which can’t be bothered to print anything more controversial than Easter stories — to drive the working man into ruin. His critique of capitalism is overt and bracing for scripted TV, and perhaps, like many science-fiction shows, from “Star Trek” to “Black Mirror,” its faraway setting will make its message more palatable.

But the weight is undercut by moments that border on black comedy. One corpse is propped up more than the stiff in “Weekend at Bernie’s.” One mysterious tycoon (Gabriel Mann, “Revenge”) believes the great unwashed working men are obsolete and that machines are the wave of the future. Speaking of the perfect future next week, he suggests to his banker minion, “Have you ever tasted a Twinkie?”

As the series progresses­, you’ll find char­acters linked to each other in ways that might seem unexpected — or just plain contrived. Still, the show’s many swerves make it hard to turn away.

“I believe a miracle is nothing more than a moment of God’s attention,” Seth says to his flock.

I can’t speak for any higher­ power, but “Damnation” makes it hard to stay on the straight and narrow.