Several states with economies dependent on natural resource extraction have had the foresight to create sovereign wealth funds. These are investments funded by a set percentage of severance taxes or royalties collected by the state. West Virginia had a sovereign wealth fund called the Future Fund, but it died in 2023 with a whimper, not a bang. Legislators did not have the discipline from year to year to build and preserve the Fund. The answer is a constitutional amendment that removes from the legislature any discretion not to make deposits into the Future Fund. The political value of solving this problem with a constitutional amendment is plain.

Trump's deployment of National Guard troops and Marines in Los Angeles is unauthorized by the circumstances, and unlawful under the Constitution and federal laws. Using government troops against civilians has been hated in this country since the Boston Massacre in 1770. Trump is wildly out of his lane and, once again, it will require the courts -- or the people -- to stop him.

The behavior of Rep. Riley Moore has been embarrassing – both to his constituents and to himself. Since being elected to represent West Virginia’s Second Congressional District in November 2024, Moore has not had an original thought. Instead, he has let Donald Trump do his thinking, eagerly supporting every misguided and dangerous policy spun out from the Trump chaos. But the most shameful thing Moore has done is to fly to El Salvador and pose for gloating photos in front of a cell full of deportees hustled illegally out of the United States.