Campaigns for public office are expensive and special interest groups look to influence the haves running for office, who are not about to dip into their own pockets to fund them.
All I ask of West Virginia’s representatives in both Charleston and Washington is to act like “I’m their Momma,” ( a phrase used in the medical community to explain how they should treat their patients) before banking campaign donations with a “sellout West Virginians” tag attached.
That being said, Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), according to some reliable new stories, has banked contributions from some of the same people who own the pipeline he’s supporting. As an Aug. 7, 2022 New York Times article notes:
“Mr. Manchin has been by far Congress’s largest recipient of money from natural gas pipeline companies this cycle, raising three times as much from the industry than any other lawmaker…. NextEra Energy, a utility giant and stakeholder in the Mountain Valley Pipeline, is a top donor to both Mr. Manchin and Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, who negotiated the pipeline side deal with Mr. Manchin.”
Why our elected officials want to further pollute our landscapes, our underground and aboveground waterways and environment, let alone add to the fast-evolving climate problems in states across America, is questionable, at best.
Reference: Why does the Mountain Valley Pipeline need Joe Manchin to change the law?
It is beyond questionable, actually. It is lunacy considering the damage far too many communities have suffered, living adjacent to industries that for too long have seemingly gotten to police themselves at the cost of the health and lives of people living nearby.
If oil, gas industry and chemical producers actually answered to the government and the communities where they are situated in a fully responsible fashion I could see having them within our midst — but they don’t.
The “why” is simple. Once elected candidates for legislative seats bank chemical, oil and gas campaign donations, they make sure their donator’s tushes are covered.
Unfortunately the unemployed in West Virginia are suckers for the promise of “middle-class wage” jobs. Sadly, once employed they soon discover that after taxes, insurance and retirement deductions their take-home paycheck reeks of a corporate “Gotcha.”
The fact is that this state’s population is dwindling and current salaries for the everyday worker barely cover their debts. Seniors outnumber any other age group in this state, the poor far outnumber the affluent ,and our government continues to operate like it’s 1970.
In 1973, I paid $5 to see an Earth, Wind & Fire concert. I can’t today. And neither can a dying state keep giving Big Business a free tax ride.
What part of the above do our leaders not understand? No wonder the middle-class are crying like diaper-rash suffering babies in a Republican provided paper towel!
A poor person’s only salvation in this state is making the sign of the cross everyday and staying prayerful.
And, I’m sorry, but the truth is that very few, if any, of the jobs open in supposedly “decent” paying jobs will be filled by Blacks in West Virginia.
I have no doubt that the Mountain Valley Pipeline owners will bus a couple trained Blacks in from states like Virginia should they come up empty handed in West Virginia.
From watching Senator Manchin’s many on-screen performances, it’s clear as water that he’s all about tooting his own horn, which leads me to believe the man in his mirror’s career is his biggest concern right now.
We are on our own, people! Our futures are in our hands. The only way we’re going to survive is by using the voting booth to end this tyranny.
“POWER TO THE PEOPLE!”
We are in trouble.
