The real enemy of all of us who want to make a better world is not capitalism or conservatism, but cynicism — our own feeling that no one cares about this shit, that nothing will ever change, so what’s the point? [...]
The economic transformation needed to build an economic system in the interest of workers while remaining within natural limits is a long-term transformation. But
we must begin it. The alternative, a continued failure to address underlying economic realities, will continue to drive voters to the R…
[...] Republican governor Henry Hatfield (1913–17) once asked:
Why will not those who have large holdings in our commonwealth assist in the up-building of the state? When will relief come to us? Will it be when these hills and valleys have been exhausted of their bounties of nature and when th…
The West Virginia Democratic Party created an analogous situation by championing dominant extractive industries in the state while also claiming to be the party of labor. The decline of the coal industry laid bare the fact that the state Democratic Party has no real vision for supporting workers, p…
The main reasons for the collapse are structural: geology (the state’s southern coalfields are increasingly uncompetitive as the easiest-to-mine coal is gone), the increasing use of natural gas for power generation nationally, and a weak market for coal exports. But the drop in coal production and …
