It’s worth noting that everyone quoted in the article is older than 44 and is from Eastern Kentucky. This means they graduated from school before the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990, which means they attended some of the worst public schools in the entire nation.
In other words: check your privilege.
See, but then the Tone Police come in and tell us what horrible people we are for thinking someone who made their bed should lie in it.
The new administration will make the EPA go away, then all that mercury and heavy metals won’t matter anymore.
Yes, I understand, (and thank you for clearly stating you’re not making an argument for coal).
As has been pointed out, coal is a declining industry, no matter who tells these people who to blame. Also, coal is not great for the environment. That’s you and me.
It’s like someone tells me “I’ve been making a good living dumping my garbage all over your yard, causing a stench, as well as disease to you and your children. Now someone is telling me that’s bad and I’m losing my job. Well THAT’S NOT FAIR! I’m gonna vote for the guy that tells me that my garbage dumping business is terrific, and he will help me do more of it!”
And then some chime in telling me I just have to understand the poor fella who is dumping garbage on my lawn, making my kids sick.
Let’s say there’s an electric fence. There’s a sign there saying, “Beware, electrocuted.” There’s a security guard there who warns you, “Don’t touch the fence.” Then, because you’re an idiot who went to a shit school, you stick your dick in it. Does your shitty education make for a decent excuse? I don’t think so, honestly. You can only excuse so much with “this person went to a bad school”.
Coal mining is shitty dangerous work, and I would think that health insurance would be rather important if you were trying to work in coal again.
ETA Though I guess they would be trusting the coal companies to adequately insure them, and their families.
All I can say is that after 70% of Colorado voters chose to give more money to crappy insurance companies so they wouldn’t have to pay (less in) taxes for a single-payer system then they fuckin’ deserve what they get when the Pubs blow up Obamacare.
I’m not talking about excuses, I’m talking about reasons.
Republican voters care much, *much *more about hurting other people than they do about their own lives, health or prosperity.
And this is where democrats and liberals that are ALSO politicians need to stop acting and talking like pussies and address these issues head on, and in cases where policy will undercut an industry and region offer assistance, perhaps even cash payouts to ease a transition away from that industry.
How much of the downturn of the coal industry was directly related to regulations from the epa and environmentalists?
How much was related to the fracking boom and the increased supply of natural gas making coal less economically viable?
http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=19&t=3
The second has JACK SHIT to do with regulations, if anything it was having a more hands off for oil shale drilling that offered that check to the viability of coal.
Has this EVER been explained by a politician? Openly and directly? Some of the increased cost for coal is due to environmental regulations, but just offer people an out. And make a credible case to places like KEntucky that it is NOT SMART and not WISE to have so much of a state economy reliant on a single industry. Once oil declines in usefulness decades in the future Alaska will not be as viable and lose revenue unless they keep going the route of investment and using the previous oil funds as a sort of state sponsored sovereign wealth fund ala Norway.
But no, no one every speaks directly, CLEARLY laying out consequences and areas where some of our policy preferences will DIRECTLY cut against the interests of people, but offering some olive branch.
Point out that NOTHING in removing environmental regulations will prevent the increased competitiveness of natural gas, and tell them anyone who ignores that is LYING to them.
Stop being pussies, stop hiding, be honest, and if some of our policies DO fuck people over don’t just leave it at that and say, sucks, oh well.
Hey, you’re the expert, right?
It would be useful to target a history of boom and bust cycles for cold and silver and coal mining for people ultra reliant on such industries, show them the ghost towns that dried up a century before Obama and the modern democrats were adding regulations against fossil fuel industries. It is A LIE that this is all a function of the epa and democratic policies, but if liberals do not address and counter the kinds of LIES spouted on talk radio, they will be believed. And for fucks sakes, offer a more hopeful future and help with a new industry that employs more people and is built on a more sound foundation… on top of a UBI.
Should also remind them of their grandparents and great grandparent’s sacrifices for unions and better working conditions before they sign away all of that.
Frankly, the public has no appetite for complex policy topics. They prefer “I will bring back jobs.” The other guys are bad and they hate you. That’s why they are banning coal". Simple. Snappy. Wrong.
All you’ll get is “NO! YOU"RE THE LIAR! LYING MEDIA! I will bring you jobs, and a free pony!” And that sounds better to the voters.
As a Doper, I would be paralyzed with confusion by this unusual construction, and would simply stand there racking my brain trying to puzzle out what it could possibly mean, thus ensuring that my dick stayed safe.
“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” - H. L. Mencken
I wouldn’t count on them wising up anytime soon. The gun nu, er, enthusiasts haven’t. They still believe that Dems want to take your guns and give them to gay Muslims no matter how many times it hasn’t happened.
You don’t have to be an expert. Just open your eyes and ears and look and listen to what the Republicans are saying. They don’t care what happens to millions of people who are currently insured. They just want to make sure people who have money get to keep it and make more. That is intuitively obvious to the most casual observer.
And yet, the Republican voters in the article talk about wanting jobs for their community, about wanting health care, about wanting more support for the lower-middle-class…and nothing about hurting other people, and nothing about helping rich people out at their own expense.
How do you square that with Republican voters wanting to hurt others, at their own expense?
Talk. Is. Cheap.
Didn’t someone quote John Mitchell recently to the effect, “Don’t listen to what we say–watch what we do”?
…he should do so, and reduce the sourpuss population!
Merry Christmas, y’all. 