We need to focus on helping working families. What we don't need, according to Lissa, is a government that is primarily focused on things like handing our property rights to corporations, or charging families for the damage corporations are doing to our roads. She says we also don't need government officials who are so ashamed by their corporate campaign donations that they regard hearing them listed out as a personal attack.
"Yeah, we need a political revolution in this state," Lissa says, "and I believe West Virginians can take the lead, just like West Virginia teachers took the lead with their strike, and inspired so many across the country to follow in their footsteps."
"The AFL-CIO is not a partisan organization," Lissa points out, noting that state teachers showed how West Virginia's long tradition of a strong labor movement "represents workers who are Democrats, Republicans, members of third parties, and members of no party. Yet the fight for fair pay and worker protection is often placed in a partisan framework, dividing us where we most need to be united."
Lissa knows there's a huge difference between supporting coal miners and coal barons, and she understands that miners and mining communities deserve better.
People are without water, and our representatives are blind to them. Is a lack of potable, running water really something that citizens of the United States, folks who live right here in the richest country in the world, should be having to fight for, all alone?
We could be a state of gurgling trout fishing streams, clean swimming holes, and vast nature and hunting preserves. We have so many hiking, biking, riding, and cross-country skiing opportunities that, given this state's natural beauty, we should be a top vacation destination. Plus, we can foster real opportunities that will improve WV in the long term.
Ken Ward writes: "When lawmakers passed and Tomblin signed a 2011 law aimed at better regulating oil and gas drilling, they weakened some provisions of it that would have provided more protections for residents near gas production operations. State officials said they would study those issues and could come back to them later. The studies were done, and recommended more protections, but the law hasn’t been updated based on the findings... "
Holler from the Hollers! 