Go Team Gravel!

I got a Sherrod Brown fundraising email yesterday with the subject line, “Yeah, my voice is gravelly.” That got me thinking about Ohio and gravel—again.

Sherrod’s gravel talk started a few weeks back, when he posted on Substack[:] “My voice might be gravelly, but I’ll always be a voice for Ohio.” I heard something interesting in this, so I wrote Ohio Gravel--Sherrod Brown is the Democrat we need now, which said:

Gravel makes the modern world possible—look out any window and you will see something made possible because of gravel. But gravel works without fanfare, doing the job we all need gravel to do—nearly always hidden, buried, bonded, or covered.

Sherrod’s gravelly voice speaks out for all those whose labor is our economy, our health care, our schools—every job that is the gravel binding our modern life. He has fought for the dignity of work for everyone whose jobs otherwise recede into our society’s aggregate.

Top of the gravel pile

So, after Sherrod’s latest email, I took another look at Ohio’s gravel. Well, “aggregate” actually, which includes crushed stone, but is what anyone outside the building trades would simply call gravel. Ohio is the largest aggregate producer, per square mile, in the nation. Bigger states produce more, but in Ohio, you do not have to look far to see gravel in action.

Go Team Gravel!

So Sherrod’s gravelly voice is much more connected to the heart of Ohio than most may realize. His campaign should take this on fully. Our world runs on gravel—both the aggregate and the workers. Ohio has plenty of both needing sound representation in workers’ rights and infrastructure projects. What other voice could represent Ohio better than one that reminds us of the importance of gravel?