Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by ZoeZoeBee 3144 days ago
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
2 comments
CalChris 3144 days ago
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.

link
catawbasam 3144 days ago
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.

link
dragonwriter 3144 days ago
> 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.

link
CalChris 3144 days ago
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.

link
dragonwriter 3144 days ago
> The opioid crisis starts in 2010.

People innth field were talking about it before that, but meth was still getting more attention; that's pretty much true of each of the unbroken sequence of specific-drug abuse crises, too.

link
catawbasam 3144 days ago
Not just Fox. I read the Washington Post.
link
masonic 3144 days ago
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.

link
ceejayoz 3144 days ago
> 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.

link