Why do coal miners want to continue working such a horrible, dirty job?

[radical noodle]

48. We lived in a mining area of Indiana

We moved there from Indianapolis when I was a teen. The area had been underground mining but eventually switched to strip mining. One of the first things that new neighbors wanted to take us to see was the huge shovel they used in mining the area. The local school had a miner as a mascot and their team name was The Miners. They have a tremendous pride in it because coal was so necessary to the country for so long, and they helped provide it. There were long lines of people waiting to be hired in the mines and anyone who finally snagged a job there felt like a king in an area where there was little else to do.

Now they're brainwashed into thinking that the government is killing their jobs. People in their 40s and 50s who have done nothing else are desperate to keep the jobs that have provided for them all these years. They think they're too old to learn something new, or to even be considered for a new type of work. The nearest place they might be hired is 50 miles away. They're looking for a savior. I wouldn't vote for Trump with a gun to my head, but some of them will vote for him because they're looking for someone that might save them and they see what they want to see.