Hick night at a local high school...you have to understand what these hicks are all about...

[MadCrow]

35. Stereotypical West Virginians just across the border from PA

I was born in NY in 1940 and moved to WV in 1972. Living in NY, my concept of life in WV was I saw on television. The only things covered were disasters, Buffalo Creek comes to mind; and coal strikes, striking miners in the local beer joint passing time, playing pool, and listening to Johnny Paychek singing "Take this job and shove it, I ain't working here no more." WV was solidly Democratic back then. There were few, and sometimes no Republicans on the ballot. I registered Democrat so I could vote in the primaries and have been a loyal Democrat ever since.

It wasn't until I lived here that I discovered how WV has been misjudged in the national media. Sure, there are a few people that fit the image, but the vast majority are not like that. WV is very provincial in its attitudes. As a high school teacher, I had kids in my class who had never been to Charleston which is about 100 miles away. School virtually closed down the first day of hunting season. The school couldn't schedule activities on Wednesday evening because that was Church night. ROTC was a major player in our high school. The military came in and gave the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) to our entire sophomore class. Then used the results to aggressively recruit students to join the Armed Services. Many of these kids had no other options. Coal mining was declining, and college was out of reach to many of them. This is still true.

I am alarmed that this state went for Trump, but I can understand why. Our economy has been failing for years. Our tax base is deteriorating. In my county we are down to one major coal mine. Our largest employers are the schools, the hospital, and Walmart. WV has the largest prescription drug abuse problem in the country. We are losing our traditional mountain culture. Our kids don't see a future. Voting for Donald Trump was a way to be heard. To say that the status quo hasn't worked for us for years, and it's time that the country woke up and realized that. Unfortunately, I don't think that my fellow West Virginians are going to benefit from what was essentially a protest vote against the establishment.