In Support of Employment

February 8, 2018

Power The Future celebrates workers, and it celebrates work. Chronic unemployment is intrinsically linked to poverty and social ills: drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, poor education, lack of opportunity. As a society we should never be complacent with this, and we should find ways to help those in need. But nothing is more helpful than giving people the opportunity to get out of poverty through employment.

The Brookings Institute published an excellent and comprehensive study in September of 2017 about drug overdoses in America, and found, perhaps unsurprisingly, the areas hardest hit are the areas where poverty is on the rise. This is devastating.

There’s a depiction of “oil men” as old white folks in powerful suits in a downtown office building. One “oil man” I met joked he doesn’t even have a suit. “What about a wedding or a funeral?” I asked him. He shook his head as I laughed. Different worlds, for sure.

But he’s got a job: a good, well-paying job. So does his wife, and most of his neighbors. They all work in the energy industry, and their small town doesn’t face some of the problems destroying a lot of rural America.

If only we can keep it that way.

Outside groups are pouring money into rural America to shut down coal mines and power plants and refineries. They are pressuring government officials to revoke land permits and tie up grants in red tape. They know there is no national appetite for such actions so they work locally and quietly. And the consequences are devastating.

Don’t let them take away jobs from rural America. With your ongoing support, Power The Future will always push back against the outside efforts to push small towns into poverty with their extremist views.

Tell us your story on employment in rural America, and maybe we can share it with the nation. We’re here for you. Info@powerthefuture.us