Quote (thesnipa @ 3 Sep 2020 14:12)

Trump took coal country when pre-election it wasn't a given. same in mining country in swing states in the rust belt up north.

democrats can downplay the importance of these sectors all they want. until the electoral college is replaced it will be at their peril.

Quote (thesnipa @ Sep 3 2020 11:12am)

Trump took coal country when pre-election it wasn't a given. same in mining country in swing states in the rust belt up north.

democrats can downplay the importance of these sectors all they want. until the electoral college is replaced it will be at their peril.

Quote (excellence @ Sep 3 2020 11:16am)

pale pasty privileged lefties can afford to thumb their noses at the people who actually work for a living.

Quote (thesnipa @ Sep 3 2020 01:12pm)

Trump took coal country when pre-election it wasn't a given. same in mining country in swing states in the rust belt up north.

democrats can downplay the importance of these sectors all they want. until the electoral college is replaced it will be at their peril.

Quote (Thor123422 @ Sep 3 2020 11:27am)

I'm not sure there's much that Democrats could do for coal country. Obama showed pretty decisively that if you associate a program with Democrats they will reject it, as evidenced by Obamacare's overwhelming support in rural Kentucky if you call it "The Affordable Care Act" instead of Obamacare. So if they can't associate the programs there's no incentive to actually help since it will be rejected anyway.

Trump has done some pretty bad stuff to coal country though, he's cut job retraining programs, but his rhetoric about coal coming back and it decidedly not coming back might leave a bad taste and reduce turnout, but I don't know enough about the locals in those areas to really understand how they would process these things.

Quote (Thor123422 @ Sep 3 2020 01:27pm)

I'm not sure there's much that Democrats could do for coal country. Obama showed pretty decisively that if you associate a program with Democrats they will reject it, as evidenced by Obamacare's overwhelming support in rural Kentucky if you call it "The Affordable Care Act" instead of Obamacare. So if they can't associate the programs there's no incentive to actually help since it will be rejected anyway.

Trump has done some pretty bad stuff to coal country though, he's cut job retraining programs, but his rhetoric about coal coming back and it decidedly not coming back might leave a bad taste and reduce turnout, but I don't know enough about the locals in those areas to really understand how they would process these things.

Quote (inkanddagger @ Sep 3 2020 01:30pm)

The truth about the coal industry is that it only exists still because of selective socialism.

Quote (thundercock @ 3 Sep 2020 19:36)

No, I'm not trying to be edgy. I'm further to the right than most of the country (but probably not on the forum) when it comes to labor laws. I think you should be paid w/e the market says you should be paid. A fast food worker making $15 an hour when the value that they add to the company is half that is absurd to me. I'm not sure why you're calling me a "battered wife" when I've been a Republican for most of my life. As a new Democrat, my goal is to push the party to the right as much as possible (basically to the center). I feel euphoric knowing that I cancelled a progressive Bernie supporter's vote in the primary.

Yea, we can skip the representation argument. I'd rather have an oligarchy than what you're pushing for so we can agree to disagree. Regarding the working class, I think the best thing would be to focus on their children because the parents and grandparents are a lost cause IMO. We can have retraining programs for those who want to compete but a lot of them simply don't. Alas, I think Biden and the Democrats are going to give them something noticeable and helpful. Obviously it's not to the degree that you want, but your views are radical.

Quote (thesnipa @ Sep 3 2020 11:36am)

like ummmm, put jobs there. people are bad with labels, but also prefer food on the table to malnourished kids and dwindling bank accounts and debt.

replacing coal jobs with clean energy jobs never goes an extra step to facilitating geography to actually put jobs there. or better yet, replace coal jobs with like any job.



and blacksmiths such as myself.

Quote (inkanddagger @ Sep 3 2020 01:47pm)

You're going to have to explain to me how @bold is propping up a failing industry.

In terms of jobs in coal country... we've known for a long time that the coal industry is wasting massive amounts of zinc, nickel, copper, and other minerals used in the production of solar panels. Shit's just part of the runoff from coal mining. Get 'em mining zinc and nickel to start, and start training them to do steel working to produce turbines and hell, subsidize a bunch of panel production factories while we're at it right slab in the middle of W Va. Subsidize the shit out of them so we can fuck Chinese panel makers over. If we're going to be socializing coal anyway, may as well dump it all into killing off overseas solar and wind competitors instead. Coal is dead.

Quote (thesnipa @ Sep 3 2020 11:54am)

i use coal in my forge, as do many blacksmiths like me who think running gas is lame. but i was just kidding in reality.

however, i agree completely with your plan, that is basically my exact plan.

Quote (inkanddagger @ Sep 3 2020 02:00pm)

Small scale coal will always exist, at a premium. Just ensures you get better prices for your artisan katana blades or whatever it is you're making.