Panhandle Progressive

Trump’s Demand for State Voter Lists Has Hit a Wall – For Now

In 2025, the Trump Administration began demanding that states turn over statewide voter lists containing sensitive personal identifiers. Many states, including West Virginia, declined to comply. That led the Department of Justice to sue West Virginia and other states. West Virginia's case has not yet been decided but Trump's position has lost in all ten cases that have been. Our personal information seems safe -- for now. But the SAVE Act pending in Congress could change everything.
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Broken Justice

Will West Virginia Avert Its Eyes from Trump Administration Corruption?

American political history is rife with examples of corruption. The period after the Civil War was known then as the Great Barbecue, when ethics broke down in public life. There were embezzling treasurers, bribe-giving lobbyists, purchased newspapermen, and swindlers at the public trough. But the Trump Administration has just tried to pull off a corrupt deal so brazen it would make Reconstruction-era crooks blush. Good people, including West Virginia’s Congressional delegation, cannot look the other way.
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Moving a Sofa – or a Nation

There is a long-running debate in America between those with a libertarian outlook, who believe it is every man for himself, and the rest of us. But we can cut through the debate about individual versus collective rights at a moment’s notice by asking ourselves how important our objective really is. Is it moving a sofa or moving a nation? If our objective is hugely important – maybe existential – we know the answer. We have demonstrated time and again that the collective approach is the only way. After all, we are in this together.
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Why West Virginia is Right to Count Timely-Cast Absentee Ballots Received After Election Day

West Virginia is one of thirty-one states that permit absentee ballots mailed on or before election day to be counted if received within a reasonable time after election day. West Virginia’s choice reflects a balance of the need for finality in elections with the particular needs of our citizens. This grace period ensures that the elderly, the disabled, overseas military personnel and others have their votes counted despite the difficulties with mail service. Our state is right to count these ballots, not as a partisan matter but as a matter of fairness and democracy.
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Tending to Our Democracy

Democracy in America has developed slowly but surely since 1789. It is now the principal attribute of our political life. But recently, the fiction that the integrity of our elections is under threat has driven one major political party to adopt measures that weaken democracy. These measures narrow who can vote and how we can cast our vote. Our democracy needs tending and election integrity should not be the tail that wags the dog.
Read more
ICE-Has-Violated-America

ICE Has Violated America

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the hammer of the Trump Administration’s immigration policy. Public opinion is mixed on the policy, but not supportive of ICE methods. Whatever you think of the policy, ICE agents have behaved like the dreaded secret police of totalitarian regimes, and disgraced America in so many ways it is hard to count them.
Read more

Trump’s Demand for State Voter Lists Has Hit a Wall – For Now

In 2025, the Trump Administration began demanding that states turn over statewide voter lists containing sensitive personal identifiers. Many states, including West Virginia, declined to comply. That led the Department of Justice to sue West Virginia and other states. West Virginia's case has not yet been decided but Trump's position has lost in all ten cases that have been. Our personal information seems safe -- for now. But the SAVE Act pending in Congress could change everything.
Read more
Broken Justice

Will West Virginia Avert Its Eyes from Trump Administration Corruption?

American political history is rife with examples of corruption. The period after the Civil War was known then as the Great Barbecue, when ethics broke down in public life. There were embezzling treasurers, bribe-giving lobbyists, purchased newspapermen, and swindlers at the public trough. But the Trump Administration has just tried to pull off a corrupt deal so brazen it would make Reconstruction-era crooks blush. Good people, including West Virginia’s Congressional delegation, cannot look the other way.
Read more

Moving a Sofa – or a Nation

There is a long-running debate in America between those with a libertarian outlook, who believe it is every man for himself, and the rest of us. But we can cut through the debate about individual versus collective rights at a moment’s notice by asking ourselves how important our objective really is. Is it moving a sofa or moving a nation? If our objective is hugely important – maybe existential – we know the answer. We have demonstrated time and again that the collective approach is the only way. After all, we are in this together.
Read more

Why West Virginia is Right to Count Timely-Cast Absentee Ballots Received After Election Day

West Virginia is one of thirty-one states that permit absentee ballots mailed on or before election day to be counted if received within a reasonable time after election day. West Virginia’s choice reflects a balance of the need for finality in elections with the particular needs of our citizens. This grace period ensures that the elderly, the disabled, overseas military personnel and others have their votes counted despite the difficulties with mail service. Our state is right to count these ballots, not as a partisan matter but as a matter of fairness and democracy.
Read more

Tending to Our Democracy

Democracy in America has developed slowly but surely since 1789. It is now the principal attribute of our political life. But recently, the fiction that the integrity of our elections is under threat has driven one major political party to adopt measures that weaken democracy. These measures narrow who can vote and how we can cast our vote. Our democracy needs tending and election integrity should not be the tail that wags the dog.
Read more
ICE-Has-Violated-America

ICE Has Violated America

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the hammer of the Trump Administration’s immigration policy. Public opinion is mixed on the policy, but not supportive of ICE methods. Whatever you think of the policy, ICE agents have behaved like the dreaded secret police of totalitarian regimes, and disgraced America in so many ways it is hard to count them.
Read more