> The partisan obsession with coal is cultural, not practical. West Virginia coal miners are a convenient proxy for the image of hardworking Americans being oppressed by unnecessary and burdensome regulation (as if regulation was the source of the woes of the coal industry).
Bang on.
The knock-on effects of this are surprisingly nasty, though. Whole swaths of country identify as mining country. Taking that away from them with economics is an assault on their culture, and the people concerned react like any culture that senses its core is under attack.
You can treat them as something obsolete, a dying beast we can circle like vultures. Or you can find a way to get them off of coal that doesn't involve invalidating how they think of themselves.
Bang on.
The knock-on effects of this are surprisingly nasty, though. Whole swaths of country identify as mining country. Taking that away from them with economics is an assault on their culture, and the people concerned react like any culture that senses its core is under attack.
You can treat them as something obsolete, a dying beast we can circle like vultures. Or you can find a way to get them off of coal that doesn't involve invalidating how they think of themselves.