Speaker 1: Baratunde here with another Citizens story. This is for April nineteen,
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five. I think we're up to story number
Speaker 1: six out of eight, just three more to go, and
Speaker 1: this one West Virginia can't wait. So I you know,
Speaker 1: there's a setup embedded. And the thing my point in
Speaker 1: doing this audio in front of the audio from the
Speaker 1: video is just to check in with you a little
Speaker 1: more loosely. We don't have to keep keep it so
Speaker 1: rigid as in the three minute limits on Blue Sky
Speaker 1: and Instagram. So we're we're coming into the home stretch
Speaker 1: on this effort. And we've been posting these on substack,
Speaker 1: on LinkedIn, on Instagram, on blue Sky, on Mailchimp, where else.
Speaker 1: We've been putting it the backyard, the front yard, the
Speaker 1: bus station, you know, wherever, wherever we can get it.
Speaker 1: And this this story is about places that we overlooked,
Speaker 1: and it's about people that we overlook in in our
Speaker 1: political process. So I love this story because it is
Speaker 1: based in Appalachia, and I grew up visiting parts of Appalachia.
Speaker 1: I'm from the DC world, uh, Washington, DC world, and
Speaker 1: so the Blue Ridge Mountains uh is almost my backyard.
Speaker 1: And went camping there with my mom and all kinds
Speaker 1: of explorations, and then I got to revisit in my
Speaker 1: adult life with the America Outdoor Show I wasted on
Speaker 1: PBS and the thing that I felt there, you know,
Speaker 1: we we were doing stories about uh, adaptive whitewater rafting,
Speaker 1: about regenerative agriculture, about coal miners who became bee keepers,
Speaker 1: and I was just like, this is a story of Appalachia.
Speaker 1: We're not seeing. We're We're only hearing folks who want
Speaker 1: to cling to a particular business model cause it makes
Speaker 1: them some money. They want to just cling to the
Speaker 1: coal industry they want, you know, in this case, it
Speaker 1: was Senator Joe Mansion at the time, who has his
Speaker 1: way of doing things and a lot of financial interests
Speaker 1: to make sure things stay a certain way. But I
Speaker 1: was seeing this new story, this innovative, adaptive, creative spirit
Speaker 1: of some fiercely independent but also interdependent people, the people
Speaker 1: of of Appalachia, the people of the Hills. And the
Speaker 1: story that you're gonna hear today reminds me of that.
Speaker 1: It's not about white water rafting, but it is about
Speaker 1: navigating choppy waters of our political system and what is
Speaker 1: going on in West Virginia. It is a lack of
Speaker 1: patience for the status quo, and it's really an invitation
Speaker 1: to everyday people to get into the process. But they're aided.
Speaker 1: There's facilitation, there's training, there's there's a community around, and
Speaker 1: there's accountability and follow through. And so if you're tired
Speaker 1: of your politicians, make some new ones, become one. But
Speaker 1: do it, you know, not alone, so you don't get
Speaker 1: eaten up by the machine. Anyway, I'm not trying to
Speaker 1: spoil the whole story. Enjoy the sounds of West Virginia
Speaker 1: can't wait, and please if you want to follow through
Speaker 1: on what you're hearing in these we're always linking to
Speaker 1: uh the substack version of the post where we've got
Speaker 1: links to the group, to the Instagram post, to the
Speaker 1: LinkedIn post. You want to find all these folks in
Speaker 1: their social platforms. You want to support them, you want
Speaker 1: to learn from them or or connect it to something
Speaker 1: you know going on, which we're trying to make it
Speaker 1: easy and just put it everywhere and find us at
Speaker 1: stories dot howdositizen dot com. This is a group effort,
Speaker 1: by the way, so just a major appreciation to share
Speaker 1: a Bromlitz who has been like project managing this to
Speaker 1: my partner Elizabeth Stewart, to my brother from another mother,
Speaker 1: John Alexander, and to our video producers. That video producers
Speaker 1: are test No Vaughtnoy and gut Ridge and Alexa Limb.
Speaker 1: And they went out and really conducted these interviews that
Speaker 1: you're hearing and edited them down and we try to
Speaker 1: package them so they could travel the farthest in this
Speaker 1: particular test. All right, enjoy your weekend, and if you
Speaker 1: hear this years later, enjoy whatever day it is for
Speaker 1: you in the future. I'm talking to you from the past. Look,
Speaker 1: time travel is a real thing. Are you tired of
Speaker 1: your limited political choices? So am I? And sometimes it
Speaker 1: helps to be reminded that we are not limited to
Speaker 1: what is on the menu that someone else chose. That
Speaker 1: we can just go in the kitchen and start cooking,
Speaker 1: mixing ingredients the way we want. But the point is this,
Speaker 1: real people can take over the political process, especially when
Speaker 1: they work together to do it. And some of the
Speaker 1: best democratic innovation in America is happening in that way.
Speaker 1: In Appalachia, check out the story of West Virginia Can't Wait.
Speaker 2: We passed a non discrimination ordinance as well as a
Speaker 2: ban on conversion therapy. Those things seemed impossible in a
Speaker 2: conservative Appalachian city, and they passed unanimously. My name is
Speaker 2: Rosemary Ketchum. I am a volunteer and formered candidate for
Speaker 2: West Virginia Can't Wait. We have run Republicans, Independents, and Democrats,
Speaker 2: all on very similar platforms. Local politics is often very practical.
Speaker 2: It's about potholes, it's about preservation and restoration. We want
Speaker 2: to make sure that our candidates put these local issues
Speaker 2: at the forefront of their campaigns. Folks feel like, well,
Speaker 2: I'm not a lawyer. I don't know how to write
Speaker 2: a bill. Those are the very people that we need
Speaker 2: in elected office. If somebody got elected and they were like,
Speaker 2: how do I write this? Are there examples from other cities,
Speaker 2: we would be that liaison. So we build a Counsellor's Club,
Speaker 2: which is essentially a text group of dozens of city
Speaker 2: councilors across this date who can share policy ideas, or
Speaker 2: commiserate about a tough council meeting, or essentially have a
Speaker 2: friend group. We've seen over fifty one primaries run with
Speaker 2: West Virginia Can't Wade candidates and nearly twenty five elected
Speaker 2: officials across the state get elected on our platform with
Speaker 2: our support. One of our great candidates in Parkersburg, Wendy Tech,
Speaker 2: has been working fixing their roads in a new fire station.
Speaker 2: Brian Butcher and Ixye Vega in Morgantown, West Virginia have
Speaker 2: been focused on houselessness to support their local free shelter.
Speaker 2: I think one of the things that I'm most proud
Speaker 2: of in my own political career is helping demystify politics.
Speaker 2: It is just everyday work for everyday folks.