Its hard to believe, but my blog has been going for over a year now. I wanted to take some time and see how we have done, making West Virginia/America a better place. I use "we", because without you, the reader, also engaging with your elected representatives, or more thoroughly researching political candidates, not nearly as much could have been accomplished. Of course, our efforts here can only claim a small portion of these victories, but, we did make our voices heard.
WINS
1. The West Virginia Roads bond passed. Hopefully this will bring economic prosperity to our state.
2. The West Virginia Republican party failed in repealing the State income tax. This would have put a burden on the middle class that we would not have been able to survive.
3. President Trumps first travel ban was rejected by the court system. It unconstitutionally favored Christianity over other religions.
4. President Trump has not pulled the USA out of NAFTA, yet.
5. 5 candidates from the 2016 campaign that this website backed, won their election. That's not a lot, but, hey, it was a bad year for centrist candidates. One of those candidates, State Senator Ojeda, was the leading voice in getting Medical Marijuana passed for our state citizens. Couldnt be prouder. Good job sir!
6. UMWA retired coal miners got their health care secured by congress.
7. The Russia Sanctions review act passed. It had to change names but it says, amongst other things: "The President must submit for congressional review certain proposed actions to terminate or waive sanctions with respect to the Russian Federation."
8. General Mattis did become Secretary of Defense (and we all breathed a sigh of relief, just think if Steve Bannon was the Secretary of Defense).
9. Marine Le Pen did lose the Presidential election in France, YEAH SHE DID! TAKE THAT POPULISM! Yes, people from France did read that blog. Yes, I'm taking all the credit on this one. Joking, of course.
LOSSES
1. All but five of the candidates this website backed, lost.
2. Governor Justice refused to remove Stonewall Jacksons statue from the capitol building grounds. The man fought for Virginia against West Virginia. Seems like a no brainer to me.
THE JURY IS STILL OUT
1. UMWA retired coal miner pensions are not secured yet, but its not over yet.
2. I haven't seen a set of gun safety laws that makes the populace safer, but doesn't restrict rights. I'm still hopeful. Maybe during the next West Virgina legislative session.
3. I havent seen any new initiatives in WV to help the environment and protect our citizens from flooding, but maybe there will be something done in the next session.
4. Illegal immigrant Veterans of the US armed forces are still being deported. I just wrote that one, though, so, it deserves more time.
5. I don't know if Senator Tom Cotton from Arkansas still thinks Water boarding isn't torture. He never wrote me back. Though, after google searching Tom Cotton and water boarding, I came up with nothing. So maybe hes just not talking about it anymore, which is also good.
As I've said, we cant take all the credit. We cant take much credit for the wins or the losses. However, if you, like me, made your voices heard by calling or writing to your representatives in congress/state legislatures regarding these issues, you can say that you have made a difference. You tried to make your state/country/world a better place. Thank you.
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