YEAR TWO REPORT CARD

    Two years ago I created this blog as a way to reach my fellow citizens to encourage people to engage with their elected government officials and to vote for good candidates. The hope is to achieve minor, positive movement in our communities. I like to keep my articles about local issues and the smaller candidates, so I can have a bigger effect. If I write an article about Brexit, the article will be worthless to my usual readers and cause no positive change. Every year in November I like to look back at my articles and see if the goal of the article was achieved. There is no way to know what kind of effect my article had, but at least in the victories I know that we (myself and loyal readers) will have done our part to help. So, without further ado, the Mountain State Middle Man report card for year two.

    WINS

13 West Virginia candidates that this blog backed won their elections.

Third party candidates were spoilers in 9 out of 18 elections across the state, in which they participated. Third party candidates received enough votes in those elections to sway the result. That goes both ways for Republicans and Democrats. I think this number could have been worse, so I'm counting it as a win.

A blog article written entirely about one of the Democrats who successfully flipped a House seat. Only one of five in the West Virginia House of Delegates. You could say that the West Virginia House of Delegates is a little less red this year, and a little more Lavender. The candidate herself worked hard, as did all of her volunteers. The election result was close. She won by about 250 votes. So, whatever minut effect the blog article may have had, I'm counting it as a win. As should everyone who worked hard to elect Cindy Lavender-Bowe. We all can claim her election as a win. She is going to be a great Delegate.

There was a blog article written about the Communications Workers of America and their strike last winter. The CWA won their strike, and that blog post was my second most viewed blog. I have no idea if the article helped, but I tried. WIN!

During my own campaign in the 2018 Democratic primary, one of my staple issues was that it is wrong that Social Security benefits are taxed at all. I lost the election, but that issue was elevated, and that issue was often discussed in the general election. Now, there isn't a candidate out there that would disagree in public, but I can't say for sure that the issue would have been brought up. So, in the face of uncertainty, all I can say is I tried with a blog article/campaign, and the issue was promoted by others as well. WIN! (hopefully a bill will make its way through the state Legislature, and West Virginia will no longer tax its senior citizen's Social Security Benefits)


    DEFEATS

31 West Virginia candidates that this blog backed lost their elections.

Amendment two passed with flying colors.

Amendment one passed.

Neither of the Supreme Court candidates that this blog backed won, and the worst possible candidates did win.

The legalization and taxation of recreational Marijuana is still illegal in West Virginia.


That is Mountain State Middle Man year in review. There are victories here that all can be proud of. There is a lot more work to do. The struggle continues. Thanks to everyone who read my articles, and thanks to everyone who took their civic duty seriously by voting and petitioning their government. Together, we can make a difference.



FYI my next article is going to be about the importance of recycling, and what I have done in my own life that I think others can replicate. Spoiler alert, you should recycle.