[ceejayoz]

The coal industry employs fewer people than Arby's.

Their votes are "taken for granted" because they're a tiny constituency, and their livelihood was always going to disappear. Mines have become progressively more automated (like everything else) and between natural gas and renewable energy options, it's simply no longer the economic home run it used to be.

[ZoeZoeBee]

Yep at the moment they do, and they will continue to, but that has nothing to do with the fact that historically those in the industry voted Democratic not Republican.

The lack of reality among some around here does amaze me

[CalChris]

And historically those miners had jobs. However the loss of their jobs had nothing to do with sanctuary cities, abortion, second amendment rights or any other wedge issue but their party switch did.

[ZoeZoeBee]

However you do realize that sanctuary cities, abortion, second amendment rights or any other wedge issue those in Appalachia did not stand with the Democratic party on and voted for their own interests when it came to employment

edit @CalChris Because your reading comprehension is not the best. They voted for their own economic interests by voting Democratic. You do realize in 2008 both of WVs Senators were Dems and so was their governor. Since the Depression the vast majority of West Virginia's Senate seats have been filled by Dems

[CalChris]

Perhaps you can explain how WV voted for their own interests when it came to employment. Their unemployment rate rose dramatically with W's 2008 Great Recession and then steadily fell during the Obama years.

https://data.bls.gov/generated_files/graphics/latest_numbers...

Looks more like Cheeto took them for a ride. He does that. Is WV voting its interest in the opioid crisis? I don't think more guns, gays and god will get them out of it.

[catawbasam]

Dem here, but I haven't seen a whole lot of priority given by my party to opioids. Back pre-Trump there was much more attention being given to Transgender kids and sexual assault of college women.

When people are despised and neglected, they tend to notice.

[dragonwriter]

> Dem here, but I haven't seen a whole lot of priority given by my party to opioids.

Whack-a-mole with specific drugs isn't a solution, it is something that will never make any progress but can generate the perpetual illusion of action.

You want to deal with cocaine/crack/meth/opioids and whatever tomorrow's iteration is, you deal with the health (including mental health and substance use disorder) prevention and treatment system, including cost and access issues, broadly. And the Dems are the only ones that aren't actively fighting to make that worse, rather than better, across the board. Everything else is the equivalent of shipping homeless from one town to the next to “fix” homelessness.

[CalChris]

Another Dem here. The opioid crisis starts in 2010. The Republicans took over the House in 2010 and the Senate in 2014. Congress then grounded to a halt and broadly rejected anything Obama proposed even going so far as to shut down the government. Congress is still halted.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opioid_epidemic#/media/File%...

Not sure why the governing party isn’t being held responsible for, you know, governing.

The transgender kids and sexual assault of college women coverage was on Fox. Again, guns, gays and god ain’t gonna get us out of this. But it will deliver the votes in places like WV.

[masonic]

Did you read your own chart? The "Obama years" 1/09-1/17) began at just over 5%, then went UP over 60% from there, to 8.6% or so.

In fact, it was worse during the "Obama years" than before or after. "Steadily fell during the Obama years" is a flat lie.

[ceejayoz]

> voted for their own interests when it came to employment

And they'll find themselves with no long-term improvement in employment, and a dramatically weaker safety net as a bonus.

[ceejayoz]

Sure it does. People always look for someone to blame for something like this, and the Republicans capitalized on that fact with the "war on coal" narrative. Not shocking it worked.

[ZoeZoeBee]

>I'd try to consider it from their perspective, but I get confused by the part where they vote overwhelmingly Republican to protect their union jobs and government subsidies.

Ok, read the parent. Appalachian Miners do not vote overwhelmingly Republican to protect their union jobs and government subsidies. For the longest time they voted Democratic to Protect their Union Jobs and Government subsides until their jobs were no longer there.

Their jobs aren't coming back, that's a given, and the reaction to that was to stop voting for the people they thought would protect their way of living, only to see a shift over the last decade where their voice was completely drowned out in the Democratic party