The Talk Turned to Politics

There in the Bridge Street Restaurant, I had a feeling my new friend was about to send me to school on West Virginia politics and while I had asked for it, I was a little wary about the next part of our conversation.  I thought maybe dessert would help the conversation remain civil.  Besides that, I saw a sign when I walked in saying they served homemade pie.  That doesn’t happen in America much anymore, and when it does, I do all I can to support it.

“I think I’m going to have a piece of pie and coffee.  Want to join me?”

“I shouldn’t.  But I will.”

“How is their pie.  It’s homemade I see.”

“It’s all good, but my favorite is the banana cream.  Great meringue if you like that kind of thing.  They zap it in the microwave before they give it to you.”

I flagged the waitress down and ordered two slices of banana cream pie and two coffees.  He leaned forward.  I kind of wished we’d kept talking about the best route west.

“There is a lot to say about Joe Manchin, but I’ll start with this.  It’s not the party that matters when it comes to him it's where he’s at in the Senate that matters.  You remember Robert Byrd?  Former senator from here?  He was in the Senate for 51 years, served in the House 3 years before that.  Died in office at age 92.  Byrd had clout.  Just like Manchin does now.  A state like us needs politicians with clout.” 

“West Virginia only has three electoral college votes you know.  Nobody cares about us much.  We know that.  So, when we get someone in Washington with seniority, heading up committees and such, we hesitate to start over.  I don’t care what party he’s from.  Know what I mean?  Manchin is Chair of the Energy Committee.  That means a lot to us.”

“It means a lot to everybody.  I think the decisions we make now about energy use in this country, and the world, are going to end up meaning what kind of world our grandkids live in.  I think climate change is the most important issue in politics.  And whether to stop burning coal is at the top of the list.  It’s the dirtiest fossil fuel there is.  So, Joe Manchin makes big money selling coal to power plants, still does, and he’s in charge of the committee reviewing and approving legislation about it.  Does that work?  You really think he can be impartial?”

“Do you think I don’t worry about my grandkids’ future?  I worry about climate change too.  And most everybody knows coal is on the way out.  But it’s a matter of speed on this switch to green energy.  You can’t do it fast.  Nearly all our power is made from coal.  We generate more electricity than we need from coal plants and sell it to our neighbor states.  You gonna shut down the coal business in West Virginia and leave us with nothing?  It may not matter to you but it damn sure matters to us.  You gonna make us turn around and buy electricity from someone else?  That’s not right.  We’re a poor state man.  Besides that, what are we gonna accomplish if America shuts down fossil fuels and China and India don’t?  I’ll tell you what, nothin’.  Fixing climate change isn’t just up to us.   Do you think the world revolves around the USA?”

“No.  But they look to us.  I think we have to show them how it can be done, do it, and then help finance the change, along with Europe.  It would be a great investment.  China doesn’t need our money, but other countries will.  It’s a global problem, and it’s in our interest to be a part of fixing it.  In our grandkids’ interest more than ours really.  And when you ask where are the incentives for West Virginia to drop coal and go green, they’re probably in the climate change proposal the Democrats are pushing that Joe Manchin, a Democrat, is holding up.  I bet he could get you what you need.  What’s his problem?  He’s acting like a Republican.”

“He’s acting like a conservative.  He’s always been a conservative.  He represents a conservative state.  He hasn’t changed, the Democratic party has changed.  He walks a fine line.  He voted twice to impeach Trump. You think that went over well in West Virginia? You know how big West Virginians voted for Trump right?  He made it through the 2018 election when Trump was President, won by a few percentage points.  Got just less than half the vote, which isn’t like him, but still won.  And he runs again in 2024.  We’ll see.  He’s got to play his cards right if he wants to stay in office.  And if he’s anything like Byrd he’ll stay till he dies.”   

The waitress brought the pie, and I had a bite.  The meringue felt like a sugary cloud in my mouth.  The banana cream was rich and warm.

“You know anything about Manchin besides his politics?”

“I feel like I do.  Maybe that’s why West Virginians like him so much.  His granddad went to work in the mines when he was nine years old and his uncle was killed in a coal mine.  Joe started out in the carpet business with his brothers, ran into trouble there, went into politics. Started out selling gob coal to power plants and went on to get rich as a coal broker.”

“Gob coal?”

“Yeah.  Gob coal is waste coal more or less.  It's what’s left lying around when they close down mines, when they clean up coal yards.  They scrape it up with all the dirt and crap laying around and sell it cheaper than regular coal.  It all burns up in the power plants.  Some people say gob coal is better left in the mines and on the ground than burned and released into the air.  It’s dirty stuff.  Manchin’s a complicated guy.  He’s from just down the road you know.”

“I knew got rich in the coal business but didn’t know he grew up here in the hills.”

“He’s from Farmington.  You’ll go right through it on Route 250.  Not a fancy place.  But you don’t need me to find out about Joe Manchin.  There are smarter people.  Hell, look him up on the internet.  It knows more than both of us.  But I’m telling you it’s not his party that matters.  It’s who he is.  We know him. He’s been in politics a long time.  Started out in the state legislature and worked his way up.   He’s a pretty straight shooter.  And he knows us.  Here’s what I think he’s doing.  He’s holding out to get investment in the state that will help us live through the change to green energy.  You can’t just pull the rug out from under West Virginia without making up somehow for the loss of the coal industry.”

“Have the feds started making up for it at all?”

“Not that I can tell.”

“Did Trump do anything in his four years to get that going?”

“No.  But neither did Obama and he had eight years.”

“What about Obama?  Wasn’t Obamacare a big help to West Virginia?“

“It may have helped some people afford care.  But it sure as hell didn’t help us get more medical providers.  It’s a damn thin health care system out here.  Especially mental health.  And the amount of substance abuse treatment is just pitiful. 

“You can say that again.  Speaking of health care, can you figure out why our health care system isn’t talked about anymore?  Rural health care is a mess.  But it’s dropped off the radar.  Except for drug prices, it’s like health care doesn’t matter anymore.”

“I think the health care lobby shut down that discussion.  But I don’t know.  I was hoping you could tell me.  Why aren’t the Democrats bringing it up.”

“It disappoints me that they don’t.  I think you may be right about the health care lobby.  And I’m sorry I don’t have more answers for you, but I do have a few more questions.  Like this one.  I can see why West Virginia might have gone big for Trump the first time, because he made coal an issue, said he’d save the coal industry.  I don’t think that was ever going to happen, but I can see the attraction of the coal mining community back then.  But he never made good on that promise.  Why would West Virginians vote for Trump even more in his last campaign than his first?” 

“Because we want to raise a stink however we can till things change.  Mayor of Cameron here in the ’30s was a socialist.  Don’t think we didn’t catch hell for that.  But people noticed.  We’ve had to fight for everything we ever got in West Virginia.  We fought to form unions.  Then we fought for safety in the mines.  Had to fight for years and years to even get Black Lung recognized as a disease, let alone get money to treat it.  We’re tired of being ignored.  It's like we’re being thrown away.  I got a mother living here to take care of.  I got kids and grandkids here.  You can’t just walk away from these little towns and the people in them.  We won’t let you.”

“You’re saying the Democrats are no better?”

“Democrats did a lot for us in the past.  But that came to a grinding halt.  I think they’re all for the cities now.  They figure that’s how they’ll win elections.  To tell you the truth Republicans have done damn little either.  But Trump is like neither one.  He’s like a third-party candidate running within the system.  He runs as a Republican but he’s not really one of them.  Sort of like Manchin and the Democrats.  I think Trump has the GOP's nuts in a vise, and he'll use it to help people like us.”

“How do you know?”

“I don’t know really.  And then he pulled that January 6^th shit.  Not sure I should have voted for him the second time, and not sure I’d do it again.  But who else is there?”

“Young people.  Let’s turn it all over to them, vote out everybody over fifty.”

He laughed. 

“You may be on to something there.”

I finished my pie and had a swallow of coffee. 

“How’d you like that pie?” he asked.

“It was wonderful.  Reminded me of my mom’s.  Who do you suppose baked it?”

“The cook here.  Bakes them at home in her kitchen, brings them in every day.”

He looked at his watch.

“I got to get going.  My grandson’s ball game is going to start soon, and he’ll be looking for me in the bleachers.  Hate to eat and run, but it was nice talking to you.  Be careful on the road.  And keep asking us hillbillies about politics.  Maybe we’ll figure ourselves out that way.”

He smiled, shook my hand, stopped at the cash register to pay, and left.  I finished my coffee, collected my atlas, and walked over to my waitress standing at the cash register.

“You had a Reuben and milk, right?”

“Yeah.  With two pieces of pie and two coffees.”

“Bob paid for the pie and coffee.”

“Is that right?”

See?  We can still talk to each other and get along.  And we didn’t even know each other’s names.