Posted on 07/18/2003 6:47:08 AM PDT by samanella
Don Surber July 11 2003 When Democrats win, W.Va. loses In just 15 words, Jay Rockefeller explained it all
In 15 words, Jay Rockefeller explained the failure of 70 years of Democratic stewardship of the state. He was railing against a Republican plan for health insurance. But the truth spilled all over his argument.
"Private companies don't come to West Virginia. They know they can't make any money here," he told an audience on Monday.
He had eight years as governor and has had 19 years in the U.S. Senate to fix that.
Union-friendly labor laws and courts that cater to trial lawyers chased away most capitalists.
Those who stay are punished for their bravery. Weirton Steel is listed in bankruptcy court, not the New York Stock Exchange.
The state might as well join its fourth-largest employer in bankruptcy court. Democrats racked up billions in unfunded liability by making promises they cannot keep in workers' comp.
West Virginia has many dangerous jobs. But eight other states have higher rates of work-related deaths. Their workers' comp programs are not bankrupt.
Those states attract insurance companies to handle their workers' comp. Ours is run by Justices Joe Albright, Warren McGraw and Larry Starcher.
Instead of seeking capitalism, Democrats roll out the pork barrel polka.
All pork does is get the politicians re-elected. We have elected only three U.S. senators in the last 45 years.
When Bob Byrd and Jennings Randolph joined the Senate in 1959, West Virginia was 39th in income.
Thirty years later, the state was 49th.
West Virginians traded their birthright for soup and beans. We replaced democracy with political fealty.
Serf West Virginia. The House of Mollohan controls the northern congressional seat. The House of Gainer controls the auditor's office. The House of Manchin controls the secretary of state's office and hence, elections.
The House of Staggers lost its congressional seat to population loss, not an angry electorate, as our delegation shrank from four seats to three in 1992.
Ah yes, the population loss.
Democratic Party policies led to an exodus of biblical proportion.
The economic colander drains away young taxpayers, leaving behind the old and the infirm for the rest of us to tend.
Civic boosters try to gloss over the pain of poverty. They erroneously claim the state has the lowest crime rate.
That title belongs to North Dakota. Sixteen states have a lower violent crime rate.
West Virginia appears to be safe because its property crime rate is third-lowest. That is not a sign of virtue. Democrats left little worth stealing.
The cost of housing is a cruel illusion. Sure, houses can be had cheap.
But the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight reported that since 1980, the value of houses in West Virginia rose a mere 92 percent. That is half the national average.
The difference in appreciation means homeowners pay dearly when they sell -- if they can find a buyer.
Cheap housing is part of the myth of a lower cost of living.
When I bought my new Mustang, I did not get a West Virginia discount. Ditto my computer, my TV and my furniture.
This may explain why we lag behind the nation in using computers. Let us not confuse a lower standard of living with a lower cost of living.
The final myth is that, well, we have a less stressful lifestyle than those city slickers. If so, why is our rate for heart disease so high?
We have the highest mortality rate in the land. Poverty is killing us.
Political freedom leads to economic freedom. Under Democrats, West Virginians have neither.
Charles Bolen
Democratic Party ruined W.Va. - In 71 years, it's taken the state from 34th to 49th
Thursday July 31, 2003; 10:04 AM
State Democratic Party chairman Mike Callaghan recently wrote an opinion piece questioning what President Bush has done to help West Virginia.
As usual, the Democratic leader tried to pin the economic disaster that has been made of West Virginia to Republican presidents.
The Democrats always want to shift the debate and deflect the blame away from the ruling party and its 71-year reign over West Virginia.
If Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Reagan and the two Bushes were such disastrous presidents, how did 48 other states surpass and remain so far ahead of us in per capita income over the last 71 years? Wouldn't North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Ohio be suffering as badly as we are?
When the Democrats took total control of the Legislature from the Republicans in 1932, West Virginia ranked 34 out of 48 states in per capita income. Virginia ranked 46 and North Carolina ranked 44. West Virginia had its share of problems in 1932, but it wasn't at the very bottom rung of the economic ladder.
Fast forward 71 years later and one finds a remarkable reversal of fortune. Virginia is now eighth in per capita income and North Carolina went from third worst in 1932 to 37th today. West Virginia went from 34th in 1930 to 49th today.
"Thank God for Mississippi!" is a common refrain most of us have heard. That may not hold for much longer, as 2001 per family income figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau indicate that we have passed Mississippi in the race to the bottom.
The Democrats have been able to write every law, tax and regulation on the books in West Virginia for the last 71 years. The only two Republicans to be elected governor since 1932 were rendered nearly powerless to stop the Democrat-controlled Legislature from implementing its anti-business and anti-growth agenda. Governors Moore and Underwood had only enough Republicans in the Legislature to sustain a veto for a grand total of six years.
This limited power could only slow the Democrats down in their onslaught on our state's economy.
Total Democratic dominance of this state goes further than the Governor's Mansion or Legislature. Democrats have amassed a 101-7 record in statewide executive office elections since 1932. The state auditor's office has been controlled by Democrats named Gainer for the last three decades, whether or not they held an accounting degree.
Democrats even had near-unanimous power to determine the constitutionality of all their taxes, laws and regulations. They have lost only one race for Supreme Court in the last seven decades. Attorney General Darrell McGraw once even argued a case in front of his brother, Supreme Court Justice Warren McGraw.
That is not evidence of humble public servants who respect the electorate.
Members of the ruling party like to argue that if you keep them in power, they will look out for the little guy. Why, then, have the Democrats imposed the second-highest food tax in the nation and the third-highest tax burden on families earning minimum wage? Won't our state's poorest families be disproportionately affected by the recent massive tax increases on tobacco and gambling?
The news is out. The Democrats are a once-proud and now hemorrhaging political party that is out of touch with the people of West Virginia. Their futile attacks on President Bush are an attempt to redirect the debate of West Virginia's future.
Our state needs new ideas and new leadership. Soon, a healthy two-party system will lift our state out of the 70-plus years of economic disaster. Republican leadership is long overdue.
Bolen is chairman of the West Virginia Federation of Young Republicans.
This is the type of analysis I'd like to see W.Va. Republicans submitting in letters to the editor of their local papers.
Perhaps if the WV Young Republicans would answer their phone calls and emails asking about membership, more such letters would be submitted. But I won't support an organization that doesn't want me to join.
I honestly worry about the state (no pun intended) of the Republican Party in West Virginia. Just as we're gaining ground for the first time in modern history (didn't we DOUBLE our representation in both houses in the 2002 election?) the up-and-coming young GOPers in this state appear to be major-league elitists. That's the last thing this state needs.
We're all heavily armed, too. Mostly this is for hunting season, but everyone here appreciates guns of all types.
I agree. Not only does everyone appreciate guns, but also they learn to use them and respect them. When I was 10 or so a man tried to break into our house while my parents were gone. I simply went to the gun shelf that my dad kept hanging on the dining room wall, took down a loaded shotgun and fired some warning shots at the stranger. When he left, I put the gun back and carried on about my business. Today, parents go to jail for keeping a loaded gun accessible.
Im glad youre happy. I would love to be living back in West Virginia, but the economy is just too bad. So until retirement, Ill just enjoy our little place on the river and hope the next 30 years passes by quickly. : )
Yep, sure enough, West Virginia is last at $23,375.53 Million. And don't ask me why the figs are quoted that way. Guess that should be $23.37553 Billion. Perhaps the statisticians don't want to help us out any by rounding to $23.4 Bill.
In the meantime, I will keep my kids in the BEST SCHOOL IN THE COUNTRY, in VA.
Most of the IT elites I know are real conservatives. The few lefty IT elite types that I run into either go down in flames with a single burst of high-powered fact, or they look like deer in the headlights when they see me coming.
It's like taking candy from a baby...
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