Understanding Trump Counties

‘Truth Is I Think He Sold Us Out’ — Trump Voter

Posted on July 7, 2017 by CharlieClaywell

I recently had lunch with a friend and eventually our conversation turned to the national political chaos we all are enduring. The friend casually noted how House of Cards, a political drama starring Kevin Spacey, is becoming too close to reality. If you’ve never seen the show, I highly recommend it as it delves into the behind-the-scenes debauchery that has come to define our political class. Shows like House, and it comical counterpart Veep, shine a light on a harsh reality — that the average American voter has no true voice in the political direction of the country.

For some, that realization leads to anger or despair, for others it strengthens their resolve to chip away at the injustice.

Regardless how one responds, though, one thing is certain, with our ever-shifting reality, truth is under attack.

Inside The Mind Of The Twitter-In-Chief

As is the case with all of us, a level of predictability exists, even in the apparent chaos. Many on Twitter have taken the time to dissect what T-Money obsesses over (hint: it’s not governing), while other find very humorous ways to mock the insanity (often getting blocked by the thin-skinned reality TV president), but one professor took the time to boil down the Tweets into their four basic categories — and once you see the system 45* uses the Tweets are easier to understand in a broader context.

It’s also easy to see that Trump’s fan base loves his attacks on the press.

In Defense Of Local News

One of the reason a Trump can rise up from the under current of American society is because people are consuming more tainted, and less local, news. As stated numerous times, Trump won the Electoral College vote by winning at the county level. Many of the counties are small enough that local, in-depth news coverage often wanes. In my county, the size and depth of the news coverage from the 1970s is much different than today. This is not a reflection on the individuals doing the work — it’s an indication of organizations downsizing to the point that the handful of reporters remaining cannot begin to cover news at the depth required.

There are simply not enough hours.

Take, for example, this small stat from my county. In 2006, the Eaton City Police handled 28 trespassing cases. A decade later, despite (or maybe because of) the city’s stagnant population growth, the EPD handled 109 trespassing cases. This is up sharply from 2014 (30) and 2015 (50). The stat can be interpreted numerous ways. For example, a few interpretations could be:

The EPD is taking a more aggressive approach to policing the crime
Businesses are requesting more people to be trespassed off their property (for example, Walmart)
More citizens are trespassing

One could also ask — is it 109 different people or are some people multiple offenders. Are certain locations prone to trespassing?

Or take another stat, the number of manufactured homes being introduced into the county (10 were recently delivered in the southern part of Preble County). How does that reflect the county’s income level? Are these homes having an impact on overall property values since the county is currently averaging about 20-30 new home constructions annually.

Or, how about the question posed last fall by a local farmer. Why is his property tax bill escalating — and is it — or is he mistaken?

Each of these stats create a perception and without strong reporting the story behind the numbers is left to hearsay.

But all of these ‘small’ news stories require manpower and, in some cases, database building skills, to flesh them out. This costs money, money that smaller news organizations cannot, or will not, spend.

Montgomery County — Epicenter Of Opioid Crisis?

But local news can deliver in-depth, accurate and important information for citizens. An example of the value of local media can be seen in a recent article by the Dayton Daily News.

The national media reported that Montgomery County was the worst county in the country for heroin-related overdose deaths. When I first heard the national story it did not seem accurate (no, I don’t consider it fake or fraudulent) because I had recently attended a seminar conducted by two retired Columbus, Ohio police officers. The officers had spent decades investigating drug-related crimes. In their presentation they referenced a map of the U.S. which demonstrated the heroin crisis began in the area that some historians refer to as the Greater Appalachian region (Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia). And, the map showed (I’m relying on memory, so these are estimates) that Ohio had about 30 heroin-related deaths per 100,000 compared to 45 per 100,000 in West Virginia.

So as the national media ‘swooped in’ and told the Montgomery County story from a surface level, the local paper put considerable effort, time and manpower into digging out the local stats which suggest they may not be the worst (although still very high up on the list).

The paper also took the time to explain the difficulty in getting up-to-the minutes numbers on heroin or opioid deaths (something the Columbus officers also said in their presentation — they used Center for Disease Control stats which were a couple years old) which further demonstrated that the national news story may have rushed in its judgement of the county’s rank.

So, at the end of the day, readers of local news were given a thorough and in-depth understanding of the Dayton-area heroin problem.

The Media Is Not The Enemy

When the 2016 election was in battle mode last fall, the GOP leadership in my county posted (on Facebook) an image of a sign saying MSM (Mainstream Media) was the problem. InfoWars.com bumper stickers can also be seen here — highlighting the information source for some locals.

When I see the attack on the media, I do wonder if former president Ronald Reagan had any clue what he unleashed when he vetoed the Fairness Doctrine. That veto ushered in the era of cable news, talk radio, alternative and fringe news organizations. Maybe Reagan thought Americans were smart enough to figure out the truth.

On some things that may be true, but, as the saying goes, politics is war by other means.

American politics is convoluted and intentionally complicated. It has been reduced to tag lines, sound bites, 140-character rants and tainted advertising sponsored by Super PACs. Without a strong press to dive into the myriad of documents, to attend countless meetings, and reporters to educate themselves on the various issues of the day, Americans must rely on talking heads or worse — social media.

In my county, if a citizen were inclined to, for example, understand what their commissioners did, they would need to know where to get an audio of the meeting (Commissioner’s Office/$1.75). Then they would need to wade through three to five hours of weekly conversation while, at the same time, educating themselves on the various programs, procedures and protocol of local government.

Americans I know, though, would rather watch paint dry (or a sporting event) instead of becoming knowledgeable enough to understand the political process to that level.

Which is why we need a strong, devoted and unencumbered media.

These men and women actually enjoy readings the documents and attending the meetings. No, they are not perfect, but having worked in the industry, by and large, most journalists are very dedicated and honest. (They could not be dishonest if they wanted to be — because the industry and/or their sources would weed them out.)

Without a strong media — especially one that includes strong local coverage — politics gets dumbed down to a spectator sports mentality where voters are rooting for their team, oblivious to the rules of the political game.

In the noise of Twitter and social media, far too many Americans vote on how they identify with a candidate, without understanding the candidate’s policy position (except maybe a handful of hot button issues like abortion). Too many vote like the Preble County man I quoted in the headline. He said,

“Truth is I think Trump sold us out,” adding “I voted for him because I liked him better than Hillary.”

But, as the local man is learning, likeability and $1.50 will buy a nice cold drink — just not a political voice.

Categories: My America, Politics, Preble County, Understanding Trump Counties

Walking The Tightrope Of Drug Addiction

Posted on June 10, 2017 by CharlieClaywell

Sadness is what I wake to this morning. It permeates my very core. Last night convinced me that I, like the popular Podcast, live in S-Town.

This week’s local news flow includes the story of a young man who escaped Ohio State Patrol custody in Eaton after about a half-milion dollars of heroin was allegedly found inside his vehicle. The escape meant a helicopter was dispatched, guns drawn, people advised to stay inside their homes. It had a ‘Cops’ feel to it, but the real drug news here is significantly less dramatic — and more toxic. It’s someone’s son or daughter — mother or father — unable to kick the habit — a habit that drains the pocketbooks and emotions of untold families in the county.

Some days I do ponder how we got here as a community. What was the tipping point? When did we enter a world where drugs consume our resources and our hope? Was it the 90s? The new millenium? It’s difficult to know the exact tipping point even though what goes on here is hidden in plain site.

You can see it in our yard signs (some mystical, above), our billboards, the tents hidden just out of view in the city parks, and in the rumors that abound.

Allegations exist of a couple local police officers mishandling suspects — usually miscreants and petty criminals — ‘shaking them down’ and conficating their backpacks without cause. I do not know if its true — and both sides have a vested interest in their version of events. But backpacks can be a problem. As pointed out in Methland, some dealers use backpacks to create a meth lab on wheels. They fill a 2-litre bottle and let the meth ‘cook’ as they ride around town. What appears to be a drug house also exist just out of eyesight of one of our Neighbors Against Crime signs. And, according to the latest rumor, a new drug house opened just three or four blocks from the Eaton Police Station.

Regardless of the accuracy of the rumors, one thing is certain — there is a thriving drug market in Preble County.

Whether the market is created by the lack of hope, economic opportunity (rumors say some drug dealers here net $2,000 a week) — or it’s a situation expasperated by the more highly addictive drugs flooding our community — is anyone’s guess. Even marijuana, considered benign by many in Preble County — including many in my generation, is 8-10 times more potent that the marijuana from the era I grew up in (70s-80s). While proponents of marijuana ignore its downsides, a tight link to depression and anxiety complications is revealed in medical studies.

Until our drug problem is solved, nothing else matters.

Drug addiction is draining our resources. At the time of this writing, the county jail has 83 inmates in custody — many associated with drug issues. The facility is designed to hold about 70 so some inmates are being housed in another county — at taxpayer expense. The number of incidents handled by the Eaton Police Department has grown here as well — by about 25 percent in a decade. In 2006, the EPD handled about 2,000 incidents. Last year it was close to 2,500. This is in a city of about 8,000 with a steady to declining population.

Admittedly some of our problems are self-inflicted. Our population is largely high school educated — only about 10-11 percent with advanced degrees. This impacts local job options. We are also fiscally and politically ultra-conservative creating a tendency to slowly crawl to No instead of Yes when solutions are proposed. Our heroin problem is also partially self-inflicted as our doctors have — for nearly a decade — prescribed opioids at a higher rate than other counties in the state. And, in the bizarro legal world of the United States, doctors will never be criminally prosecuted — only the addicts.

I’m certain the sadness I feel this morning will fade because time does heal, but when I look at what my county needs to solve, I’m not convinced we, as a community, have the fortitude and intellectual drive to do it. I know we’re not afraid to work — I’ve seen hundreds of volunteers cleaning up our parks, but this is a much more difficult task.

It requires working on our perceptions. It requires educating ourselves about chemical dependency.

And, most difficult of all, the work requires giving a chemically-dependent person one more chance — even when you’re exhausted by the predictability of the disease.

Categories: 8th congressional district, My America, Preble County, Understanding Trump Counties

Congressman Davidson: Listen To Your Constituents So You Can Help Them

Posted on May 9, 2017 by CharlieClaywell

According to a report released by the Ohio State Patrol, Preble County outrank Ohio’s other 87 counties in the amount of heroin seized by the OSP inside its boundaries.

When the Congressional aide for Warren Davidson answered the phone on Thursday, May 4 — he said yes, Davidson was supporting the American Health Care Act. I explained it would hurt Preble County — launching the aide into a sales pitch. I cut him off and the call ended with an awareness that my opinion was unwanted and unheard. Why would it be heard? I live in a gerrymandered district with a 2-1 spread favoring the GOP.

Davidson’s snafu

The concept of a representative democracy is quite simple: the representative listens, responds and acts in the best interest of the constituents. In theory this sets up a House where each representative is fighting for what is best for the folks back home. In this type of House, Davidson’s hierarchy of priorities would fall something like this (accepting the current reality of monetary influence):

Voters
Ohio
Nation
Party
Donors

His vote for the AHCA demonstrates his allegiance falls this way:

Freedom Caucus
Special Interests (Club for Growth, Freedom Works, etc.)

Or vice versa.

After the bill passed, Davidson issued a statement which includes these sentences,

…Reforms to Medicaid, work requirements for able-body adults, and defunding Planned Parenthood are no small victories. Americans are actively suffering under Obamacare….

Health care jobs have been on the rise for about five to six decades. Click on image to read more.

Even though the statement directly contradicts reports of a growing health care economy (and its importance to Ohio) the ‘reforms to Medicaid’ are very problematic for his constituents which I attempted to explain to his aide.

How ACA Helped Preble County

Click to enlarge

In Preble County, the ACA significantly reduced the number of uninsured — one report puts our uninsured at two percent, a 63 percent decrease in five years. This is due to the Medicaid element of the Act. The ACA is also helping in our battle with heroin.

Another report suggests the poor and elderly will be most injured should the new legislation become law — which means Preble County is, once again, in the crosshairs since we are an impoverished, aging population. But, none of that matters, I suppose, because at the center of the debate is the government’s function. Is it to stay out of the way or is it to make a more equitable society?

Solve It Yourself

Help wanted sign in downtown Eaton.

I live in a community where there is no shortage of people advising the disadvantaged that ‘all they need to do is git a job.’ People spew the advise with little regard concerning a person’s skill set or available employment. In this week’s community paper there were six job offers, mostly entry level work (and presumably without affordable health care). This is also a community which, according to the local rumor mill, has workplaces where some employees are using ‘hard drugs’ like heroin, meth, cocaine and LSD.

The path out of this dilemma is not an aggressive paring down of health care, but rather funneling individuals with addictions through recovery services. And whether, Davidson, the Freedom Caucus, the Club for Growth or Freedom Works approve, this will need to be funded by tax dollars. Localities like Preble County are too financially strapped to solve it without state and/or federal dollars.

Bill Attacks Vulnerable

After the House bill passed, both Ohio senators commented on it and as expected, Sherrod Brown (Democrat) was not supportive. He said,

This bill is heartless, it is bad for Ohio and it will leave real Ohioans struggling to afford care.

Republicans like Ohio’s governor John Kasich and Senator Rob Portman weren’t supportive either. They railed against the AHCA. Portman said,

…this bill does not do enough to protect Ohio’s Medicaid expansion population, especially those who are receiving treatment for heroin and prescription drug abuse…

Problems Inside Davidson’s District

Last month, Portman visited my hometown of Eaton — touring a 104-bed women’s mental health and addiction treatment facility which opened here in January. Portman, after listening to some of the residents at the facility, said,

“A lot of them have been through treatment programs before, but what they found here that really works for them. A lot of it is the setting, but more of it is the curriculum here. They really take these women through the brain, what happens in the process of a disease like this.”

The article also quoted the head of a Preble County agency — an organization at the forefront of tackling our drug problem. The spokesperson said,

“What we know is there is not enough treatment to cover the rising epidemic and the amount of people who need treatment in the county.”

From my personal circle I know this to be true. Two individuals in my family circle had to seek treatment outside the county with one heading out of state.

This is what residents inside Ohio’s 8th Congressional District are dealing with and gutting health care will exasperate the situation.

We have two overwhelming needs in Preble County — increasing the availability of livable wage jobs and affordable mental health/drug addiction services. These are two situations Davidson could assist us with — if he chose to focus his energies on what the District needs instead of promoting some far-right ideology.

What Can We Do?

The short-term solution in a heavily-favored GOP district is for the moderate Republicans to find a viable primary candidate to run against Davidson in 2018. A longer-term solution is for voters to demand that Ohio abandon its gerrymandering approach to U.S. Congressional Districts. It’s the only way voters can be assured their voice is heard. It will also promote a more unified populace since we Americans are willing to accept an opponent if the ‘fight was fair.’ Without a level playing field, we Americans are subjected to a top-down management system where representatives are nothing more than salesmen for special interest groups.

Afterthought

When I read books about the colonial era, I’m always struck by the fundamental difference between the New England colony, populated mostly by educated Puritans, and the Virginia Colony, founded as a business venture and populated with the ‘refuse’ of Great Britain — which included my paternal line. In many ways, the distinction between the two major political parties were drawn in our colonial past. The New England colony was definitely influenced by Christianity and many of its laws promoted — and created — a more economically balanced society. Their political offspring would become the blue sections of the country.

The Virginia Colony operated much differently. It never hid its class structure and the poor were manipulated by the ruling elite. In time many of Virginia’s lower class were known as mudsills. Mudsill is a term lost to history. It was the bottom plank of a log cabin. The weight of the cabin would drive the plank deeper and deeper into the mud creating a solid foundation for the edifice. The term is fitting, even today, as the class of people who suffer the most in our society are those at the lowest end of the social-economic pile.

Categories: 8th congressional district, Age of Discontent, My America, Preble County, Understanding Trump Counties