Why do we let ourselves be pitted against each other? Don't we all want what's best for West Virginia?
Of course, we do. We live here. It's our home. It defines who we are. Of course, we all want what's best for West Virginia.
Well, maybe not all of us, but most of us.
Who doesn't want what's best for West Virginia? Who wants to divide us, to profit from our division? Only a few.
Why do any of us listen to them? Why do we pay them any heed at all?
Sure, we have disagreements, and every now and then we have to sort them out. Tempers may flare, and everyone has to give a little, compromise a bit, and maybe not be perfectly happy with the outcome, but that's the price you pay to live in a cohesive community, and the benefits are more than worth it.
To live in West Virginia, to be a West Virginian, is worth the give and take.
What most of us want is to live in peace, to protect and provide for our families, and to lend a helping hand to relatives and neighbors in need.
For too long, the greedy and self-serving few have striven to enrich themselves by dividing the rest of us, and now at last we, the majority, have reasserted ourselves and announced our determination to end this ugliness.
In just a few short months, with a truly bipartisan effort, our legislators and our governor have made considerable progress in reforming legal practices that were pulling us apart.
As Tiger Joyce of the American Tort Reform Association observes, “tort reform shouldn’t be about partisan politics, because it’s ultimately about putting the interests of workers, consumers, taxpayers, and patients above those of personal injury lawyers.”
His group has cited West Virginia as “a shining example” of bipartisan reform.
That's something we can be proud of, those of us who want only the best for West Virginia.