Tuesday night, outside of a public hearing about coal permits at the Charleston Civic Center, we saw today's West Virginia. Or at least I saw a couple thousand folks who couldn't get in to a public hearing about mining permits.

A couple thousand folks with jobs and families and with hopes that the former will exist so the latter can remain here.

They showed up with signs and T-shirts and adorable children, ready to tell the media that they just wanted to work making energy for you. The most popular chant of the night was simply "Let us work."

There was yelling. There was the occasional off-color remark toward those hardy souls with the courage to tell Americans that their way of life shouldn't exist. Get used to it.

Some of the reports you've read are more about the couple tens of folks sent crying back to their Subarus and Prii than the thousands proud of West Virginia and the work done here.

If you support coal, and jobs, then what you saw Tuesday night was a thing of beauty. People plugged into their politics. People making a connection between what they do at the ballot box and what it can do to their lives.

Folks look past the little things government does to sop up your excess freedom. When they force on you a couple more cents tax on a gallon of gasoline or won't let you buy light bulbs four for a dollar anymore.

But today, the declared intent of a president and the bulk of the federal Congress is to end the leading industry of our favorite state. And that finally has the attention of those on the front line of the energy game here.

Primarily, coal is the cheapest, most efficient form of energy we have. That's why we have coal power plants. The nation's greatest problem is an economic one. No period of economic growth in the history of America has ever been predicated on using less energy.

Job growth and output growth occur only when more energy is used, not less. Yet from the federal level, down to neighboring states, we legislate goals of using less power. That simply makes no sense.

The best news? The best thing I saw Tuesday, when surrounded by men and women wearing the uniforms of their jobs at coal mines? I saw youth.

I saw voters who'd never really thought much about the consequences of things before. I saw voters cornered by government, distrusting of it and calling out their tormentors by name ... Rahall, Rockefeller, Obama.

Never mind anyone running for office dumb enough to endorse or be pictured with the president last year. Their time will come, too.

The voters were all over the map, but these weren't the usual same 20 old people who show up at public meetings or the county GOP monthly event. These were 20- and 30-somethings. My heart melted when I saw a miner with a bunch of piercings chanting at some hippies. Not my usual guy, but I was damned glad to see him there.

To me, this was America. To others, they'll mock these families like the anti-NAFTA stock characters that pop up on Comedy Central's "South Park."

Obviously, they must be taken seriously. It's rare that you get a few thousand folks to show up for something on a school night without free punch and pie or the promise of a Warren McGraw breakdown.

And that's why I'm mad at our leaders for not getting it. The state Legislature is in town this week for its interim meetings.

I saw a few of the Democrat electeds at the event, showing their support -- Sen. Truman Chafin trying to skirt the line between being pro-coal and not being anti-Democrat. Ditto for Huntington Delegate Kevin Craig, who works in coal and may have higher aspirations.

A few back-benchers were there because they realized a couple thousand voters would be there ... but they seemed mostly uncomfortable with this crowd.

The rest were probably at a fundraiser for one of their brethren, best as I can tell.

The most embarrassing? The Republicans. Rank-and-file Republican voters were there. County and local conservative types as well. But the only elected member of the GOP I could find was pro-coal Delegate Troy Andes, who was the only one with the courage to be there.

In what should be the biggest Republican cycle since 1994, only one guy could bother to show. Until these guys in this party learn to grab a hold of this attack on our state and turn it back toward Washington, D.C., they will be doomed to repeat their failures of the past 80 years.

It was an embarrassing lack of leadership and awareness.

Rob Cornelius of Parkersburg writes about energy and other issues. His e-mail address is robcwv@gmail.com.