Comments by "Alan Friesen" (@alanfriesen9837) on "Van Jones: What coal country expects from Trump" video.

  1. You guys aren't part of the solution; you're part of the problem.
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  2. For starters, I'd have the government guarantee the pensions. I'd take this opportunity to discuss options for state medical coverage, see what kind of resistance they felt for a single-payer healthcare program and ask if they had a better idea. I think it's important to have a conversation about the reality that coal mining jobs will continue to disappear but also to try to brainstorm with them for ways for folks to make a good living without coal with an emphasis on comparably paid income streams. While I think that might come to naught, if they come to that conclusion with us instead of from us, it might be easier to swallow. Even so, those communities are still going to need economic support and at the same time they'll need to find a self-satisfactory justification for their existence. By the way it's not just Appalachia. We have the same issues in the timber towns here in Oregon.
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