Expatriates

The number of people from West Virginia that have gone on to greatness in their respective fields is impressive, and the list can be recited by most West Virginians. There is a deep-seeded pride that the citizens of the state feel when one of their own goes on to fame and fortune. Chuck Yeager, Mary Lou Retton, Pearl Buck, Don Knotts, John Chambers, Jerry West, Booker T. Washington, and Jennifer Garner are only a small selection of the list of famous West Virginians. But not one of those individuals made their greatest contributions while living in West Virginia.

It seems as if that West Virginia has always been a net exporter of its natural resources, and its people are not spared from that fate. But a quick look at the state's history will show that that has not always been the case. Scottish-Irish and Italian immigrants came to West Virginia in the 1800s and early 1900s to work in the coal mines. West Virginia's economy stayed relatively healthy from the Civil War to the 1970s, beginning with the coal and timber industries and continuing on with the steel and chemical industries. West Virginia's very geographic nature and the difficulties of transportation mandated that other aspects of its economy, ranging from banking, construction, culture, and even sports, had to be self-contained and self-sufficient. During this time, there was no confusing West Virginia with New York, and there were pockets of abject poverty and despair, but in whole West Virginia's population, economy, and outlook was still growing.

Flash forward to today. There are pockets of West Virginia that are truly booming. The Morgantown area, the Eastern Panhandle and Putnam County are the most notable of these pockets of economic growth. But in whole, both in reading the raw data and from my observations, West Virginia is suffering. Its population growth in the last census could be counted in the thousands, compared to the hundreds of thousands or millions for other states. And while that little growth avoided some of the pains of an increased population, all it really meant is that the elderly population in the state is growing while the younger demographic is leaving, forcing the tax burden on a shrinking portion of the population. The state seems to be treading water right now, happy to be keeping its head above the waves but definitely not moving forward.

What is the cause of this? Is it, in the words of Manny Ramirez, just "West Virginia being West Virginia"? If you talked to 10 experts, you would probably get 10 different reasons. But I think I know the reason why. I am to blame. My friends are to blame. Everybody who ever left the state to get a better life, to live the American dream, is to blame. And of course none of us is to blame.

Let me explain. I was born in Parkersburg. My mom was an Army brat with family ties to West Virginia and who went to West Virginia University. My dad, who grew up in Illinois, decided after finishing college and a stint in the Peace Corps to move to the U.S. version of the Third World. I grew up in Charleston. I graduated from Capital High School with all the honors one can get. I went to WVU, was an honors graduate, and then went to law school in Morgantown. I had access to the highest levels of publicly-financed education the state could offer, and then what did I do? Two years after graduating, I was living in North Carolina. And there is nothing wrong with that. I didn't sign a contract saying that out of gratitude for my education I would spend the rest of my life in the Mountain State. I am not bound to the land like a serf from the Middle Ages. And I am not special. I have lots of friends from high school, undergrad and law school who grew up in West Virginia who now live in D.C., Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia and all other points beyond. These are smart, talented, driven people who have every right to find their happiness, their version of fame and fortune, wherever they can. And yet, we are the reason West Virginia is like it is.

Look at the names at the beginning. What if they had found their fame and fortune in West Virginia? What if all the amazing people that the state has generated stayed there, making their contributions to business, sports, politics, and culture in places like Clarksburg, Wheeling, and Beckley? What would the state be like today? What if just the people I know had stayed, using their talents and intelligence to make themselves and by proximity those around them better? What if I had chosen to do that? Those of us that have left might look on ourselves as the Diaspora, forced to leave our homeland due to its crappy economy or its backwards culture. But in truth we are more like expatriates, people who have voluntarily left to live in another land. We are not to be despised by those we left behind, or envied for "getting out". We have each made a conscious decision to leave West Virginia, and it must remain our decision. But we can also make a conscious decision to try in our own way to make West Virginia a better place, for we all owe it a debt in one way or another.

This blog will be my attempt at repayment. It will contain ideas about how the economy of West Virginia can be improved. I am a lawyer, not an economist. I have practiced in the world of courts and rules, not in the real world of business. But this is what I will offer. I hope that in some way it will make a difference, and that it will inspire those more qualified than I to also make a difference to West Virginia. And if that occurs, the debt will be repaid.

West Virginia on my mind

When I moved away from West Virginia in 1999, I was 27 years old, armed with a law degree and a license to practice law that was going to be useless in my new home of North Carolina. My wife and our two cats and two dogs packed up our lives and headed out on our great adventure, leaving behind family, friends and old jobs. When we arrived in Salisbury, we shoved everybody and everything into a rented two-bedroom house and started to build our live together. In short order, I passed the bar, we had our first son, passed another bar, moved to Winston-Salem and bought a house, had a second son, changed jobs, and am now having a third son. In that time, through work and family, I have been to Chicago, Idaho, Boston, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Maine. I have won and lost cases, seen the wonderful births of my children, and shared my love with the most beautiful woman in the world. And yet, I can't stop thinking about West Virginia.