No sign yet to help miners
Coal miners “are not my enemy. Workers in the fossil fuel industry are not my enemy,” Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders told a crowd in Louisville, Kentucky, last Sunday.
“Climate change is our enemy,” Sanders added.
Like so many ultra-liberal politicians, Sanders wants to have it both ways. He want the votes of radical environmentalists, but he doesn’t want to lose those from places such as Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, where coal is vital to tens of thousands of families.
“We will not abandon communities that have relied on fossil fuel jobs,” Sanders assured listeners in Louisville. “We will rebuild those communities.”
That sort of pledge is not worth much to those who have witnessed recent history. The “war on coal” was initiated by former President Barack Obama.
During his eight years in office, his administration did nothing of substance to help those in communities devastated by the closure of coal mines.
In fact, Obama slashed federal funding for research into ways coal could be used without adding to climate change.
Until Sanders and those of his ilk propose concrete, effective programs to help Americans in coal country, we have absolutely no reason to accept his assurances. Talk is very cheap. We’ve heard it before.