Don't forget to turn out the lights

As you might imagine, we spend a lot of our time interacting on various and sundry social media platforms. Facebook and Twitter are our faves, and where we're most active. So like and follow us, already.

One thing we've noticed lately, particularly on Facebook, are the number of comments from those who want to leave West Virginia, based on the actions of the newly elected Republican leadership in this legislative session. We've snarked about this previously. Those comments aren't going away.

But West Virginia families are.

And before you tell them not to let the door hit them in the ass on their way out, think of this. Population determines representation in Washington. Every state gets two Senators, but Congressional representation is based on population.

Probably more importantly, electoral votes are based on population.

Come with us back to the year 2000 for just a moment. You remember that election, right? The one in which the Supreme Court elected George W. Bush? Had West Virginia followed previous paths, and voted for Al Gore, Florida's hanging chads would have been irrelevant.

Yes. Think about that. West Virginia's five electoral votes going blue instead of red would have changed the course of history, dramatically.

There is, of course, no way to know whether we'd have spent thousands of lives and trillions of dollars on an unfunded war. But we can surmise.

Which brings us to 2014. Where does the time go? West Virginia is blood-red now, not true-blue, and the current legislature is determined to do some major bloodletting during their 60 Days of Doom. Repeal is the word of the day, day after day, and there's not much left for the left.

And so they're leaving. Maybe that's the Republicans' goal: Reduce the population and you'll

• reduce the need for public assistance,
• reduce the student/teacher ratio, and 
• reduce those pesky liberals who think clean water is important.

But they're also reducing the number of people willing to work, which reduces the tax base, reduces the number of tourists willing to spend their money here and reduces the number of voters.

At any rate, we're here, and we're staying, and we hope enough Democrats will stick around to help us turn West Virginia blue in 2016. How about it … are you in?