Red State Elegy-Eulogy

Unaffordable housing and high taxes are touted as the reason why folks are making a significant exodus from California. Enough for that state to lose a seat in Congress. But the California economy is rising fast, blue state COVID policies are working, and there is even a state budget surplus. The California tech sector is flying high, and it seems the most of those exiting are not from the rising industries that define the state, rumors and Elon Musk to the contrary notwithstanding. The hot industries in California seem to be holding their residents and their workers. The state is also reopening very fast now. 

Not the same story in many rural red states, where mask wearing and getting vaccinated were/are viewed by vast swaths of residents as infringing on some bizarre notion of “constitutional rights” (actually non-existent), where educated individuals are frowned upon as “out of touch elites,” and where false hope remains for the resurrection of obsolete industries that employ semi-skilled blue-collar workers. Representative of this ethos: West Virginia, fading even before the pandemic.

“According to newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau, West Virginia lost a higher percentage of its residents than any other state in the nation. From 2010 to 2020, the population dropped 3.2%, or about 59,000 people. Because of that, West Virginia was one of seven states to lose a congressional seat following the 2020 census.

“Reasons for leaving vary, but common themes emerge: a lack of opportunity or low pay; not enough to do; a political climate that some find oppressive; and poor cellphone and internet service. According to the Census Bureau, only 79% of West Virginian households have a broadband internet subscription, the fifth-smallest rate in the country… The population has suffered from changing demographics, with deaths outpacing births for the last two decades, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

“In an effort to reverse the population losses, West Virginia started encouraging remote workers to move to the state of 1.79 million residents through a program that will pay them $12,000 cash along with free passes for a year’s worth of whitewater rafting, golf, rock climbing and other outdoor activities.

“[One WVa resident who elected to move to Florida and work remotely] wants no part of it. The energy poured into luring out-of-staters, she said, should be spent ‘helping people there who are suffering the most.’ About 16% of West Virginia’s residents live in poverty, a figure surpassed only by Arkansas, Kentucky, New Mexico, Louisiana and Mississippi [all red states except New Mexico which is purple].

“The nation’s second-largest coal producer, West Virginia has lost 56% of its mining jobs since 2009 as power plants turn toward renewable energy sources… Teachers are leaving for better-paying jobs. Despite winning 5% raises following a strike in 2018, West Virginia teachers remain 48th in the nation in average salaries, according to the National Education Assn.” Los Angeles Times, May 23rd.

If you’re looking for very affordable housing and a very low cost of living, often attractive to retirees, West Virginia offers all of that plus breathtaking mountain vistas, visually stunning changes of seasons and a bevy of pretty friendly residents. If you’re looking for job opportunities, good public schools, first rate medical facilities and cutting-edge restaurants, West Virginia remains merely a pretty “drive through” state with nice outdoor activities available. It’s major claim to political power is a very conservative Democratic US Senator, Joe Manchin, who holds considerable congressional sway as the key swing voter in the Senate. 

This story simply repeats itself in a state that seems to be mired in the 1950s, with little effort to upgrade and rebuild in accordance with expectations of the modern era: “When Rebecca Recco left Belle, W.Va., in 2017, she was making $42,000 as an art teacher. She now earns $68,000 teaching middle school art in Oakland.

“Moving was about more than just better pay. She described an anti-union, anti-teacher sentiment, including new laws passed by the Legislature creating charter schools and withholding teacher pay during labor strikes… ‘West Virginia reminds me of a drunk cousin,’ Recco said. ‘It’s like this cousin that you have that can’t get itself together. I love West Virginia. I love it. It’s where my roots are from.’

“Except for the occasional gift shop, Recco said, West Virginia is merely a passing thought for motorists on the interstates… ‘Everybody I’ve met out here has said, ‘Oh, yeah, I drove through West Virginia. I don’t remember it. Was there anything there to do?’ ’ Recco said.” LA Times. Add spotty cell phone coverage and the reduced availability of broadband Internet access, and you get a state where time seems to have stood still as the rest of the world has been shoved forward in the hyper-accelerated waves of social and technological changes that define modernity. West Virginia, and a number of other backwater rural red states, simply are not prepared to live in and perform economically in a globally competitive marketplace.

I’m Peter Dekom, and lest we forget, residents in these less competitive states are Americans too and deserve our help, support and respect.