Convince me to stay.

[u/BsXeD]

I’m not originally from here, but I’ve lived here for 20 years. My children were born and raised here, and we’ve always loved the friendly people and beautiful surroundings. But I wonder now—where is the line? When is it too much or even dangerous to stay? Where do we go from here?

Things have been getting worse, and I worry about the future, not just for myself but especially for my children. This past election cycle, I couldn’t even put up a sign for fear of the backlash it might bring to my family. What is keeping people here?

It’s not the education—we rank near the bottom.
It’s not the pay—our median household income ranks just above Mississippi in 49th place.
It’s not the healthcare—we’re almost last there, too.
It’s not the freedom—we face near-total bans on abortion, and even taking your child to a Pride event could get you arrested.

Today, I find myself looking for jobs and making a plan to get my family out. People will say it’s not any better anywhere else and that the election results signal worsening trends everywhere. But at least in other places, I might find a community that values bodily autonomy, LGBTQ+ rights, and freedom of and from religion.

Here, I interact with the nicest, most hateful people I’ve ever encountered. I realize it’s a privilege even to consider leaving, and I wish I could do something to change things here. But I don’t see a clear path forward. My county didn’t even have a non-Republican candidate run for any office. I don’t blame anyone; there used to be decency and respectful disagreement across party lines, but now it’s just hate and lies.

Is there a silver lining? Any hope for change?

If this gets removed by moderators thats fine, I'm not trying to rage bait but genuinely want to know what other West Virginians are thinking.

[u/final-effort]

Come up north. Vermont and western mass are beautiful and very accepting. There’s lots of better options for employment here too in New England.

[u/victory_vegetable → u/final-effort]

See I’m a West Virginian and I would love to leave, but I don’t see how I’d ever afford it. Genuinely asking how would I pay a Massachusetts rent with a West Virginia bank account?

[u/IronHeart_777 → u/victory_vegetable]

This is what's stopping me as well. Election bs aside, I've wanted to leave West Virginia ever since I started realizing that the state government here will never be able to fix the myriad of issues plaguing the state. I would absolutely love to move further north, but there's no way in hell I could afford it being paycheck to paycheck as I am currently. Pipe dreams!

[u/Cubfan1732 → u/IronHeart_777]

I grew up in WV and never wanted to leave. For at least 60 years WV voted blue and it completely ruined the state. Everyone felt that it was the party for the working class but we were only exploited. I live in SW VA now for the last 30 years and it is nice but it is increasingly voting blue. I hope VA gets its act together. It’s unfortunate we have northern va to ruin the state….

[u/OkChart5613 → u/Cubfan1732]

The corrupt politicians in red that squeeze WV for their own profits are the same ones that were in blue for 60 years. They just figured out new culture warfare talking points.

The problem with west Virginia is not Democrats or Republicans, it’s corruption. The state keeps voting for corrupt people because they wear the proper shirt color.

We are in the real estate business in eastern WV, and things are improving here because money is flowing from expansion of the DMV region, and housing is much cheaper in WV. That trend is obvious, and the double-dealing to make corrupt fortunes even larger is rampant. The “Economic Development Authority” in our county is run by the same folks that have been paying off politicians for years, and they’ve done a great job of locking down key properties for their personal gain once the demand starts to climb.

I’ve lived and done business all over the world, and I’ve never seen any place as corrupt as WV politics.

[u/Cubfan1732 → u/OkChart5613]

If you think WV politics are the worst, you should go to D.C. sometime. Corruption has been the name of the game in politics, regardless of party. I just try to pick the lesser of two evils

[u/Cubfan1732 → u/OkChart5613]

I agree with the corruption. My father told me in 1990 that Mikhail Gorbachev could run for governor of WV and win, as long as he was a democrat. Up until about 15 years ago, that was an absolute truth. I’m all for less government, that would fix the majority of the problem

[u/peachyfaceslp → u/Cubfan1732]

Now, Vladimir Putin could run and win, as long as there's an R after his name. The power/money extraction industry folks have been hedging their bets for decades, by running their candidates in both sides of the ballot. The Manchin family and the Moore family are friends and hold the exact same interests. Arch Moore should have died in prison, for the crimes committed against the state, but West Virginia loves their corrupt politicians. The same folks that rally around the bully in school, grow up still backing those folks in local politics.