Country Roads, Take me Home

My connection to Appalachia and it’s profound impact on me.

I recently received a voicemail, from a woman in West Virginia on my campaign phone number. She started by telling me how West Virginians don’t like outsiders and how I am not wanted here and will never be one of them, a sentiment expressed to me previously by a couple of politicians, and at least one of my opponents. She then went on to inform me how I don’t know what it’s like to live here, which is funny considering I moved here in 2020 and started a small business in Hedgesville, WV. Finally, she revealed her true colors as she went on to attack me as an election denying, Trump believing, gun loving, right Republican nutjob who probably hangs out with Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Her voicemail gave me a good chuckle. I would argue that if she is against election integrity, Trump, and guns, she is the one who doesn’t know what it’s like to live in West Virginia. In fact, her rant, calling me a “right republican nutjob”, is all the endorsement I need as a true America-first MAGA republican. Oh, and she forgot to mention that I’m also, a very strong defender of the US Constitution, and am especially fond of our sacred right to free speech. So, in honor of that freedom, which belongs to her too, I have posted her rant below for you listening amusement:

In all seriousness though, I want to address the notion that I am an outsider to West Virginia. I say notion, because while I may not have been born and raised in West Virginia, I was raised with mountaineer values, as my grandmother was a coal miner’s daughter from the Appalachian Mountains. I am proud of my family heritage, where my great grandfather, Owen Lancaster, his father, Joseph Lancaster, and many of their siblings were coal miners. They valued hard work, perseverance, frugality, bravery, and brotherhood, making an honest living, mining the coal that built America. My great-great-grandfather ultimately perished after the roof collapsed in the Linn Mine, Fayette County, PA in 1912. He was pulled out by his son Owen (pictured below) and died a week later from his injuries.

Great-grandpa Owen Lancaster his Miners Cap and lunchbox. He always saved a portion of his lunch in case of a cave-in.

Great-grandpa Owen Lancaster with his pickaxe.

Great-great-grandpa Joseph Lancaster - Who died after a Linn Mine cave-in of 1912.

Those values were passed down to me and have been some of the guiding principles of my life. The worth of a man is not found in where he was born, just as it is not found in the wealth or the privilege he is born into, but rather in who he becomes and what he does with his life.

I realize that people are often suspicious of those who are not originally from their hometown or state, especially of would-be politicians. It’s understandable, considering so many have made promises, only to let us down. However, the misguided practice of prejudice towards those who were born in another state, comes from a place of fear and not reason. A case in point is Ronald Reagan and Donald J Trump, arguably two of the greatest Presidents of my lifetime, with Reagan being from California and Trump from New York. Neither entered politics as career politicians and we seem to have been the better off for it.

I intend to earn the respect of the people I hope to represent. However, I believe I have demonstrated a level of trust by both my military service and my holding of a high-level security clearance for over 25 years, without even a single suspension in all those years. And most clearly a sign of my integrity, was my willingness to risk my career, my freedom, and possibly my life, by blowing the whistle on the most powerful law enforcement organization in the world, Hillary Clinton and her associates, and Russian intelligence agents. I cannot think of a better test of trustworthiness, than when one does the right thing, even when he has nothing to gain and everything to lose.

West Virginia may not have given birth to Nate Cain, but she adopted me and made me one of her own. As I have traveled the district, I have met countless warm and kind fellow mountaineers, giving me experience of a West Virginia that is welcoming and full of love, not bigoted to outsiders. I have made so many friends and have come to cherish, not only the land of West Virginia and its natural beauty, but its people too. They are my people now and I am theirs. Some have been a part of the fabric of West Virginia for several generations. Others, like me, are refugees who have traveled a long country road to finally find a place to call home. The rude woman who reacted out of unreasoned fear, is not an example of West Virginia, but the exception. I pray for her, that she will come to let go of her hatred and vitriol of conservatives and will recognize the values that I and almost all other West Virginians hold are those that will lead to greater prosperity and peace for all of us that call West Virginia our home.