ON TUESDAY, voters in four states head to the polls.
West Virginia features a three-way Republican primary to determine who will challenge Joe Manchin in this autumn’s senate race. For most of the 20th century, coal dominated West Virginia’s economy and Democrats dominated its politics. Democrats were the party of organised labour, and in few places was the right to organise bought with as much blood as in West Virginia. But over time, Appalachian coal mines grew less productive; today most coal is mined from open pits in Wyoming. The plummeting price of natural gas and renewables hastened America’s shift away from coal. Membership in the United Mine Workers, the state’s most powerful union, roughly halved from the 1950s to the early 21st century. It now represents less than 40% of all miners—and that’s not many people (as of 2016, America had more yoga teachers than coal miners).
At the same time—as union power and membership declined across America—the Democratic party grew...Continue reading
Source: United States https://ift.tt/2Ijc6m9
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