my parents moved from their native West Virginia to Arizona in the 50's, and when your crossed the threshold and entered our home, you were in West Virginia, from what was cooked for dinner every day to the decor, to the atmosphere. My parents were people with working class values, my mother had to drop out of school after junior high to take care of her widowed mother and younger sister, working as a hotel housekeeper in Clarksburg. My father, who lost his Dad at age 13 to the black lung disease he got from working in a carbon plant, was able to put himself through college and then volunteered for the Navy during World War 2 where he trained as an air conditioning mechanic. They moved everything they owned, along with my maternal grandmother, to Arizona in a 1955 Dodge Desoto.
But as a young adult, I did get to experience living in Appalachia, in Williamson, Mingo County, West Virginia, as a door to door salesman. I can honestly say that during the time I lived there, late 70's, I knocked on the door of every residence in Mingo, Logan and Wyoming Counties in West Virginia, in Pike County, Kentucky, and in Buchanan County, Virginia. And I got to know the people, good people, poor people mostly, but hard working people.
In spite of all the promises made, Trump did nothing for any of those people while he was in office. He didn't get the coal industry revived and moving again, he did nothing. They are facing a tragid opiod crisis, about which he did less than nothing, except that his policies made it worse. And much of that area is experencing a rural health care crisis, hospitals closing because too many people don't have insurance and can't afford care.
Biden's infrastructure bill, fight against inflation and is interest and economic policy has helped this region. There are jobs, and the employment picture is getting better. There are strides being made to deal with the opioid crisis. And the Biden administration recently appropriated funds, and working together with a local medical practice in Williamson, got their hospital re-opened.
Your best hope, people of Appalachia, is Joe Biden.
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