Issues

West Virginia's plan for job creation needs to be focused on full-time, high-wage jobs. The replacement of traditional occupations with part-time, low-wage jobs in the service industry have exacerbated under-employment.

The state must develop a plan to combat declining incomes due to the rise in automation. The solution will need to shore up the purchasing power of consumers. We must end declining wages by adjusting the minimum wage annually for inflation, and make giant corporations contribute their fair share in taxes, while offering workers relief such as reducing the Vehicle Property Tax.

In our rapidly changing world, we need to make it easier for start-up businesses to set up shop in West Virginia. The brewing and distillery industries are a classic examples of excessive red tape.

Irresponsible, career politicians continue to "kick the can down the road" on infrastructure investment. Crumbling roads and bridges with a growing population are a recipe for failure. Our transit, power, and water systems need to be properly maintained.

The internet, much like libraries, has revolutionized access to information. Broadband is essential for business, commerce, school, and much more. Career politicians have failed to assure that high-speed internet is accessible for all West Virginians at a low cost.

The tax dollars the state intends to waste on a bond issue to finance the polluting Rockwool project could be better spent setting up the a broadband service owned by the Citizens of West Virginia and controlled at the local level.

For a productive West Virginia, we must invest in our workforce. Many workers are employed with an hourly wage without benefits or through the gig economy as a contractor or freelancer.

Workers with poor dental, mental, and visual health are set up for failure in the workplace. Despite the establishment's propaganda, working-class life expectancy is declining. We need to change this trend.

We need a state-financed worker-care program to provide on-demand dental, mental, and vision care with community-controlled, county elected health boards to administer. This program can serve as a stepping stone for the federal government to establish a national health service to implement life-saving Medicare For All, to be community-controlled and locally administered.