General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Is the (D) behind the name more important than the voting record? [View all]wildeyed
(11,243 posts)My feeling is to them, it represents the pride of doing hard work. The mines ripped them off and stole their health, but they had pride in their labor and were able to eke out a living. They want that back, I guess.
WV has world class rock climbing and paddling. Decent skiing and great mountain bike trails too. It is convenient to much of the east coast, thanks to Senator Byrd's powerful position on appropriations committee and the roads projects he funded. But locals don't want to switch to a recreation/clean energy economy. That brings weird liberal outsiders who they feel look down on them (probably true). They still want to blow the tops off of the mountains and strip mine to get the last few morsels of coal, despite that fact it is not sustainable work and the recreation jobs are.
I thought urban poverty was bad until I went back into a few of those hollers. I met a guy once whose cheek was eaten away with cancer and had made his own prothesis for his missing leg. I was a broke college student back then, but I re-evaluated. I realized I owned a decent car and had close $1000 worth of outdoor gear on my body at the time (mostly given to me by the sales reps or bought at wholesale) and that maybe I needed to do the thing we now call 'check your privilege'. Most people there are not that poor, but it does exist.