What's next in WV's Appalachian uprising?

It's pretty much official. This is more of an uprising than a work stoppage. The movement is driven from below and no formal organization is pulling the strings.

Historically, that's often the way change happens. Working people's organizations fight the day to day fight for their members and allies but most of the time they do so in the absence of a huge movement willing to disrupt business as usual. When movements like this arise--they can't be manufactured or sustained at will, alas--there's sometimes a bit of a disconnect.

But spontaneous mass movements need organizations to consolidate their gains. And organizations can always use the power of a mass movement behind them. But either alone is in this context could be a recipe for disaster.

I could be way off but here's my take on where things stand now:

*First, as I argued here, this uprising has already resulted in major victories in a political climate MUCH more hostile than the 1990 strike. I'll say it again, don't minimize the victories. To see all the changes most of us want means we need to change the composition of the legislature so that friends of working people are in positions of leadership. And Congress.

*Second, I think the proposal to use the $58 million, wherever it may come from, for PEIA is just a distraction designed to defeat the movement. I'm no PEIA expert, but the people I know and trust who are all say it needs a long term fix, not a one time bump.

*I think the best outcome would be to push for the raise and long term task force with adequate representation from people directly affected--but to commit to long term educating, organizing and mobilization through May and November and beyond. The progress made shows what can happen when people wake up--but the ground working people have lost in recent years shows what damage can be done when we fall asleep.

*As to the senate president's assertion that the state budget is a fixed amount, that just isn't true. The state budget is the product of deliberate values and choices--or the lack thereof--not cosmic destiny.

*Division and confusion play into the hands of our opponents. And time may or may not always be on our side.

Not a good sign

Over the years, I've often complained about West Virginia's sometimes skewed budget priorities. These go back way before the current economic and fiscal meltdown the state faces now. And the perfect example of this is the state of funding for higher education.

You can find my recent rants about this in the Gazette here and here.

Here's a recap of the mini-rant version:

*WV ranks at the bottom in terms of higher educational attainment;

*It's also at on near the bottom on income and poverty statistics. (Hmmmm....might there be a connection?);

*Back in 2007 and since, when times were better, the state cut taxes by more than enough to provide free instate tuition and fees to all WV students with money to spare; and

*When adjusted for inflation, WV has cut higher ed funding by more than 40 percent since 2008.

It's starting to show. As WV Public Broadcasting reports, college enrollment here has dropped for the fifth straight year.

Any way you slice it, that's not a good sign. And it's likely to get worse before it gets better--unless we fight back to restore sane budget priorities, which includes raising revenue.

Talking Appalachia

It's no secret that Appalachia in general and WV in particular are in a tough spot. The question is not only what to do about it but how to talk about it. The Topos Partnership, using the tools of ethnography, came up with a valuable guide for people who have to navigate these stormy seas.


AND WHILE WE'RE AT IT, here's a look at what won't help, i.e. cutting state taxes. This should have  been obvious a long time ago.

A taxing day

Comprehensive tax reform is on the top of the to-do list of the newish Republican WV legislature. Today, the joint committee charged with coming up with a plan listened to reports on past reform efforts.

(I can personally attest to this because I sat there from around 8:30 to 3:30 watching and listening to the proceedings. I must admit having to stand up toward the end to avoid falling asleep and drooling on myself, which probably would have been bad.)

 I just hope that whatever winds up happening is less bad than what is happening in Kansas, where irresponsible tax cuts are gutting education and essential investments. I think the Charleston Gazette nailed it in this editorial on the subject.

In case you get really bored...

...here's a link to a podcast of a new program WV Public Broadcasting is trying out. It's called "The Front Porch," and it involves people with different viewpoints discussing issues in a civil way. The different viewpoints this time are yours truly and conservative columnist Laurie Lin discussing the future of coal. There may be more to come.

TALKING SENSE ON TAXES. Here's an op-ed by a friend of mine about what's next on the agenda of WV Republicans.

WHILE WE'RE AT IT. Here's Gazette statehouse columnist Phil Kabler pointing out how ALEC is running the agenda here.

This is our concern, Dude

As this item from WVMetroNews makes clear, the new WV Republican legislative majority has its sites set on comprehensive tax reform.  That probably means that if they get their way, we are looking at more corporate tax cuts, cuts to education and other services, and shifting costs to working people.

Ironically, we kind of already did this back on 2006, only with a Democratic majority. Thanks to those reforms, higher ed has been cut and made less affordable and the state has forgone around $500 million per year in lost revenue--more than enough to provide free in-state tuition and fees for all WV public colleges and universities. Oh yeah, and  things haven't gotten all that much greater since then.

Here we go again. Here's hoping for successful damage control.