Every since the 1930s, the urban and academic left has championed the miners of rural Kentucky to show their solidarity with the working class.  The struggles of workers in this region to unionize was memorialized in numerous songs that entered the repertoire of popular left wing musicians from Woody Guthrie and Peter Seeger to Natalie Merchant.  Florence Reece's strident Which Side Are You On  was adopted by both the civil rights and the anti-war movement.  They say in Harlan CountyThere are no neutrals there.You'll either be a union manOr a thug for J. H. Blair.Which side are you on, boys Which side are you on So how exactly did the media's anointed agent of progressive change fare in Harlan County yesterday?  Barak Obama got just 9% of the vote.  As bad as that is, it's almost double the percentage he won in nearby Floyd and Magoffin counties. (Read Full Post)