When it comes to the midterm elections, the Irish immigrants in the town shook their heads. They were rather indifferent to politics, and not very enthusiastic about the two-party struggle in the United States. They resembled the Chinese community decades later, with a low voter turnout, caring only about whether they could eat and stay warm.
Maybe this was an opportunity?
West Virginia was originally part of Virginia, but it later split off to form its own state. It is the highest state in the east of the Mississippi River, with the entire state situated in the Appalachian Mountains. There are no plains, and 75% of the land is covered by forests, which is why it is called the "Mountain State," with an average elevation of 457 meters.
With such a geographical situation, the state's population, around one and a half million, is composed primarily of coal miners and related agricultural workers, with few other occupations. Due to the natural environment, there were not many early English-speaking immigrants; most were Irish and German immigrants, with a small portion of Italian immigrants. It was a state developed by immigrants, typical of many states built by settlers.
So, the question is: which party do the people of this state typically support? Is it the currently governing Republican Party, or the opposition Democratic Party?
The support for these two parties in the United States has been constantly shifting. A well-known example is President Lincoln, a Republican, who advocated for the abolition of slavery and fought the Civil War. At that time, African Americans were strong supporters of the Republican Party. But after slavery was abolished?
The Republicans believed that since African Americans were now free, they should be treated equally and encouraged to work hard and earn their living, fulfilling the "American Dream." As a result, African Americans turned to support the Democratic Party, which later became the representative of minority groups, laying the foundation for what we now call the "Rainbow Coalition."
Another example is that after half a century of Republican rule, creating a prosperous economy, the party had strong support from capitalists, white-collar workers, and industrial workers who benefited from the economic growth. However, with the current economic crisis and a snowballing collapse, the Republican Party failed to address the crisis and lost support from these groups, who quickly turned to support the Democratic Party, eventually becoming a solid base for Franklin Roosevelt's future presidency.
The Democratic Party also faced similar issues. During President Wilson's administration, significant political reforms were made, including granting women the right to vote. This historic move earned the Democratic Party unprecedented support from American women.
Yet, the same Democratic Party, under Franklin Roosevelt, campaigned to repeal Prohibition, which greatly angered women. Prohibition had been heavily supported by women's rights organizations, as alcohol was linked to domestic violence. Roosevelt's decision caused a significant loss of women's votes, which shifted to support the Republican Party.
At present, most of the Irish immigrants around Naylor had little political inclination. They believed government agencies and social organizations were nothing but trash and preferred not to engage with them.
The American election system was particularly strange; just because you were a U.S. citizen didn't automatically make you a voter. You had to register, declare your status, not have a criminal record that would strip your political rights, not be on parole, and pay taxes with an official address and email...
In short, becoming a voter wasn't difficult, but it required a lot of bureaucratic steps. Given the Irish immigrants' low political awareness in West Virginia, they simply couldn't be bothered to register as voters.
Yet, politicians cared about one thing: votes.
Only the votes of registered voters mattered to them, and they would carefully consider their needs, or at least when it came time for elections. Even though the lives of the Irish immigrant farmers were difficult, if they didn't go out and vote, then politicians wouldn't care about their well-being. If they didn't vote, they were irrelevant.
So, if someone were to travel back to this era of the United States, and found a state of two million people but only had a few hundred thousand registered voters, they shouldn't be surprised—it was simply the reality.
"To get federal assistance, everyone has to vote!" Naylor suddenly stood up and walked to the center of the coffeehouse, speaking loudly in thick Irish with great enthusiasm.
"Vote? What's the point? Will politicians even listen to us?" an Irishman asked, puzzled.
"A single vote might not do much, but if all of us Irish immigrants unite, we'll have hundreds of thousands of votes, which can completely decide who gets to be our four representatives!" Naylor spoke passionately, his voice becoming unexpectedly powerful and infectious.
"How will the politicians know we need assistance?" The man in the straw hat was more concerned with the practical matter.
"Politicians will travel through the districts to gain voters' support. We need to use our votes to make them promise something," Naylor explained.
In past elections, the candidates had only campaigned in the towns of West Virginia. This was because the majority of registered voters and those who actually voted were concentrated in the towns—only about twenty thousand to thirty thousand people. As long as they secured the votes from the town residents, they could easily ignore the miners and farmers scattered in the countryside, numbering in the hundreds of thousands.
Now, in order for them to take farmers seriously, it was necessary for the farmers to register and become voters. They needed to make politicians realize that they not only needed the votes of the town residents, but also the votes of far more farmers and miners.
"Politicians will promise to fight for federal emergency relief funds to gain our support!" Naylor concluded with a rousing statement.
"Will they keep their promises?" Although the Irish farmers around him were moved, they were still doubtful.
"Hahahahaha! Do they only want to serve one term?" Naylor laughed heartily, trying to use a light tone to ease their concerns.
In reality, politicians were all the same—just as unreliable as flatulence. Their promises during the election were often worth no more than toilet paper. They would say anything to get elected, but once in power, many of them would fail to follow through.
But that was the way it worked in the U.S. The two parties just took turns, and if you didn't vote for one, you had to vote for the other. Both were equally useless. This led to many politicians acting with impunity, knowing they could break promises with no real consequence.
After all, whether you voted or not, it was the same two parties.