You can’t fix stupid.
In the heart of southeast Ohio’s Appalachian region is Athens County, the state’s poorest area with a 31 percent poverty rate.
Most of the people living in Athens county at the foot of the Appalachian Mountains near the border of West Virginia—from farmers, professionals at Ohio University, or the working poor—all seem to know their county’s notoriety, but don’t really seem to mind too much.
They also believe that nearby Meiggs and Benton counties aren’t far behind them.
Within its 11 cities amid scenic hills and plains—mostly along U.S. Route 50’s Appalachian Highway and U.S. Route 33—poverty hasn’t so much been an acquired situation it is more a way of life in the region that has voted mostly Democratic for decades.
……The last time a Republican presidential candidate won Athens County was in 1984 when Ronald Reagan defeated Walter Mondale, 11,548 votes to 10,201, according to the Athens County Board of Elections.
The county, which has a population of slightly more than 62,000, has a median household income of $34,221, slightly below the federal poverty rate for a two-income household.
There are also 9,272 residents on the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and 16,910 on Medicaid, according to information from the Athens County Job and Family Services.
……The once-bustling coal-mining industry that gave Nelsonville its reputation of being the biggest little city of black diamonds—it reportedly was the second-largest coal-producing region in the world at one time—has stopped.
The booming brick manufacturing business that once included world-famous Star Bricks, has long crumbled.
These days, whether the price of gas and groceries go up, fertilizer more than doubles in price, or one has to pay more for a smaller load of wood to put in the wood-burning stove that heats their home, the people just keep on keeping on.
“Inflation and high prices are just everywhere,” said a fourth-generation farmer on the edge of Athens County who isn’t happy with the state of affairs in the world.
“It’s at the gas pump. It’s at the grocery store. It’s getting to the point where people won’t be able to afford anything.”
……“I really can’t recall Athens County ever being Republican,” Athens County Board of Elections deputy director Tony Brooks told The Epoch Times. Brooks has worked there for the past 27 years.
“It’s what people believe and how they feel about the candidate,” Brooks said. “It’s more or less status quo here.”
In fact, all three Athens County commissioners are Democrats and it’s been that way for a long time, an elections worker told The Epoch Times.
The sentiments of Cheryl McKee of Athens echoed those from Brooks.
McKee, who voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 Presidential Election—said she’d likely vote for him again in 2024 if he runs—although she isn’t completely happy with the job he’s doing.
“The war in Ukraine needs to stop,” she said. “Now, that’s ridiculous.”
With inflation, McKee has said she has had to cut back on “everything,” and tighten her already limited budget.
McKee, 64, works part-time three days a week at the Burger King restaurant in Athens for $12.45 an hour and takes care of her ailing husband at home.
She is among at least 31 percent of Athens County residents living in poverty. There’s also the county’s 5 percent unemployment rate which is on par with the national level, according to numbers from the county and state.
……McKee, who said she watches political news on television, but doesn’t comprehend all of it, went on to say that the issues in the county that need to be addressed mostly are related to infrastructure.
……Going back farther, Pete Couladis, the chairman of the Athens County Republican Party for the past 15 years, couldn’t remember the last time a Republican won in Athens County.
“This is a very Democratic area, and very poor,” Couladis told The Epoch Times. “It’s just an ongoing problem. People will have to realize what we have isn’t working and we need to look in a different direction.”
……A fourth-generation farmer, who worked in another profession in a number of other states before returning to Ohio to work in the family business 12 years ago, said he hopes to pass the family farm on to his children.
Admitting he was a Republican who voted for Donald Trump in the past two presidential elections, the farmer did not want to give his name.
That’s because he does most of his business in nearby Athens, which people have described as “the little blue dot in the county,” because of the university and the way the community and its active student population vote.
The board of elections does not break down the number of university students that vote in elections, but an official told The Epoch Times if the students want to vote in any election they must live in the county, and change their home address to where they live near the university.
The farmer, whose both sides of the family are staunch Republicans, didn’t mince words when asked what he thought about the state of affairs in the United States and the world.
“It sucks,” he said. “I don’t like socialism or the outlook of the future of our country for my kids at the moment.”
He believes the current administration is establishing a socialistic government “at breakneck speed,” which his family opposes because of its hard-work ethic and what they are establishing for its next generation.
“We work our ass off seven days a week, but we choose to,” the farmer told The Epoch Times. “Not everything is monetary. We’ve created a world that we want our kids to take over if they so choose.
And then there’s this woke libtard:
Ty Halley, who grew up in Athens and recently returned there from Portsmouth, were the complete opposite of the farmer.
“I voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 election, and I’d probably vote for him again,” Halley, 35, said. “I think the Democrats could help their applause point better by doing something about the things they say they support—raising [the] minimum wage, improving the environment, canceling student debt …
“I like the social issues,” Halley added. “I’m pro-gay marriage, support raising the minimum wage, and think transgender kids need more protection. I’m pro-choice when it comes to abortion and believe labor unions are important.”
Halley said he didn’t believe that Trump had the best interest of America at heart, but had his own personal interests at heart.
“I just didn’t think Donald Trump was on my side,” Halley said. “In some ways, he’s unpredictable.”
President Trump put this country first. He’s successful, exuberant, brash, confident, thinks outside the box, and goes against the grain of the Swamp status quo. He reversed the damage Barky Obama did to this country and accomplished more positive improvements to the economy, foreign policy, and national security during his term in office than all the previous White House occupants since Ronald Reagan.
He has the guts to take on the RINO establishment and the Dems.
And they hate him for it.
Retards like McKee and Halley are the reason why America keeps slipping back into an abyss of corruption and economic and foreign policy clusterfucks. No amount of Dem fiascos are too much for these braindead fuckwads.
Biden’s accomplishments so far:
Botched withdrawal from Afghanistan that left 13 American service members killed and armed the Taliban with an arsenal of weapons.
During the Alaska summit, the ChiComs mocked Biden’s incompetency and had a field day with Tony Blinken.
Flooding the country with millions of illegal aliens.
He wants to give the IRS more access to your bank account.
The Dem regime has declared war on freedom because they know Americans don’t tolerate their socialist wet dreams.
Fauci’s malfeasance, perjury, and ties to the Wuhan Lab.
The military is being destroyed by disloyal military brass. with the objective of purging the ranks of any vestiges of patriotism and warrior ethos.
Food and gas prices skyrocket.
Biden blocked the Keystone pipeline, killing thousands of jobs, but helped the Russians construct their own pipeline. Fruitcake Pete Buttigieg, the Department of Transportation Secretary, told the pipeline workers to “get new jobs”.
Inflation is soaring. According to BLS, the cost of many goods and services have increased significantly over the past year:
- Gasoline has increased 45.1 percent in the past 12 months.
- Energy 24.5 percent in the past 12 months.
- Bacon has increased 8.4 percent in the past 12 months.
- Fresh fish and seafood has increased 6.4 percent in the past 12 months.
- Fresh whole milk increased 7.5 percent in the past 12 months.
- Fresh fruits increased 8.4 percent in the past 12 months.
- Major appliances increased 13.7 percent in the past 12 months.
- Furniture and bedding increased 8.6 percent in the past 12 months.
- Footwear increased 6.5 percent in the past 12 months.
- Airfares increased 24.6 percent in the past 12 months.
- Commodities have collectively increased 9 percent in the past 12 months.
Biden’s out of control spending could cost taxpayers $3.5 trillion. The “infrastructure” and “covid” bills are full of pandering to leftwing agendas and lining the pockets of corrupt partisan hacks.
The supply chain bottleneck can be directly attributed to the Biden regime’s paying American workers to stay home and vax mandates that forced thousands of people out of their jobs. As a result, companies cannot find the labor to drive trucks, offload ships, fill orders, or do any of the other millions of jobs needed to keep our supply chain moving.
Violent crime has spiked off the charts thanks to the Dems’ defund the police agenda and the refusal of Dem prosecutors to actually keep thugs in jail and charge them with the crimes they commit.
At least 12 major U.S. cities have broken annual homicide records in 2021. Guess which party runs them.
Mass looting in Dem-controlled cities.
Portland has collapsed under the weight of pro Antifa and BLM violence.
The entire needless Covid hysteria.
Biden’s foreign trip was a complete disaster. He called for regime change in Russia, said U.S. troops were being sent to Ukraine, and said he would ‘respond in kind’ if Putin used chemical weapons. Then, he denied he ever said any of it.
Picking up where Obama left off by spying on journalists.
His Iran nuke deal gives Russia $10 billion and waives sanctions to build nuclear plants.
Biden shared Ukraine invasion intel with China, who then gave it to Russia
Biden’s foreign policy disasters and his decaying mental state have our allies shaking their heads and our enemies laughing their asses off.
But pronouns, gender identity, and unions are more important.
Keep voting Dem, idiots.