Senator Robert Byrd

Any Requiem for Robert Byrd must include a dirge for his state.

Some comment seems appropriate as a person arrives at a remarkable achievement in our nation's records. Today Robert Byrd will have served his state longer than anyone else has ever served any other state. The people of West Virginia have elected and reelected him some 10 or 11 times either as a representative or senator, the last 56 years as senator. He’s not been around much lately because he is in poor health. So is his state.

Robert Byrd represents MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL. That’s a process in which mountain tops are scraped by vehicles the size of Delaware and pushed to uncover coal that lies under the ground. The tops then slide down into and fill up the valleys that used to carry streams through West Virginia. Byrd has been “unable” to prevent this. Not only that, but his people are still dependent on coal. Not the marketing of it or the selling of it but the other end of it, digging it out and breathing it in.

As Byrd completes his 56th year as their senator, the people of West Virginia rank among the highest in the nation in low life expectancy 46, high infant mortality 40, tooth loss 50, suicide 42, poor education 37 and mental health problems 50th. These are the people who continue to vote for him.

Is it fair to blame the condition of a state on its elected official? Why not? Particularly when they have been in office for 56 years. But I am not blaming Robert Byrd for all of his state’s problems. I am blaming the electorate.