Echoes of Appalachia

In Tennessee, our representatives walk into government buildings and claim to speak for us. Then they vote in ways that go against what we need. They say they’re working for the people, but who are they really working for? It is clear they are serving money, lobbyists, and political machines that care nothing for the mountains or the people who live in them.

Kentucky has sent Mitch McConnell back to Washington over and over. He built a career in power while communities in his own state got hollowed out. He gained wealth. The people lost jobs, healthcare, and hope. Eastern Kentucky gave its trust and got little in return except more waiting and more struggle.

Virginia’s mountain counties do not even get a second glance. The people out there still wait for broadband, for clinics, for clean drinking water in some places. They see promises show up in speeches and disappear the minute the election ends.

Across all of Appalachia, the pattern repeats. Candidates roll in with big words and bigger promises. Then they disappear. The people get left behind again. It is not about party labels. It is about the fact that both sides have turned this region into a photo op and a talking point.

And every election cycle, here come the scare tactics. They try to stir up fear instead of offering real plans. “They’re putting transgender people in your bathrooms.” “They’re coming for your guns.” “They’re taking Christ out of Christmas.” It is always something meant to make you panic, distract you, and vote with your gut instead of your mind.

That fear keeps us distracted from what really matters. Jobs that pay enough to live on. Doctors close enough to reach. Places for our kids to live and stay. A future worth staying in the mountains for.

While they stir up fear over bathrooms and flags, they push bills that take food off our tables. The so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” aims to gut Medicaid, Medicare, and food assistance by billions of dollars. That is healthcare for our parents. That is food for working families. That is the support many people rely on in counties where jobs have dried up. They do not talk about this part on the campaign trail. They count on us being too distracted to notice.

They want us scared. They want us angry at the wrong things. They want us to fight each other instead of holding them accountable.

We are not dumb. We are not weak. We do not need to be told what to fear. We need the truth. And the truth is this. Unless we educate ourselves, research every name on that ballot, and ask what they have really done for Appalachia, nothing will change.

They think we will keep falling for the same tricks, and in reality, we do keep falling for them. We have to prove them wrong. In 2026, every voter in Appalachia has a chance to flip the script. Ask the hard questions. Who brought clean industry to your county? Who stood up for rural hospitals? Who protected the rights of working people instead of corporate donors?

The answer to our problems will not come from outside the region. It will come from within. From people here who know what it is like to raise a family on low wages, drive an hour for a doctor, or live in a town where the mine is gone and nothing replaced it.

It is time. Time to wake up. Time to stop letting fear do the talking. Time to vote with purpose. Time to rebuild this region from the ground up with our voices, our votes, and our truth.

Appalachia is stronger than they think. Let us show them.

-Tim Carmichael