Virginian Politics

8/9/2019 Virginian Politics

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Virginia Politics I’ve lived in Virginia all of my life, so it’s certainly imperative to me to describethe happenings going on in my own state. Politics can be a competitive andsometimes a cut throat reality. I don’t expect everybody to agree with all of my words here,but certainly it’s quite reasonable to discover articles of a myriad of points of view. Happinessand bitterness envelop participants in the tough world of American politics. Virginia is a place

whose American political history have spanned long centuries even in the days when solelyNative Americans resided inside of the North American continent (back spanningthousands of years). Political arrangements crystallized among the Powathan tribes and therest of the Virginia Algonquian Native American confederacy. They lived in Eastern Virginia. Patrick Henry was a famous political figure who said "Give me Liberty or Give meDeath" in a church in advancing the Revolutionary War. Patrick Henry denounced the Britishutilizing America as a colonial enterprise. Thomas Jefferson participated in the early Virginiangovernment as well. I don't agree with him on every issue of course. Jefferson legitimatelyproscribed to the concepts of individual liberty & religious freedom, which in this modern ageare enshrined in the confines of the American government ( including the Stategovernment of Virginia). Political changes came in Virginia after the Civil War in America.Most African American males were given the right to vote. The Readjuster Party came about

in the 1970's. This party is made up of a coalition of Conservative Democrats, Republicansand African Americans. This group was assembled and the Readjuster Party took power forabout 10 years. The Democrats regained the state legislature at 1883 when the ReadjusterParty lost control of Virginia politics. The Democrats used a statue and a new constitution in1901. The provisions in these 2 items had evil policies in them like a poll tax, residencyrequirements, and a literacy test to disfranchise most African Americans and even some poorwhites. This disfranchisement continued until after the passage of civil rights legislation in themid-1960's. Many white Democrats created an one party state with nearly unchallenged



majority of state and most federal offices through the middle of the 20th century. This groupwas called the Byrd Organization. The Byrd Organization was headed by Harry F. Byrd Sr. TheByrd Organization was headed by Harry F. Byrd Sr. in order rule the political establishment in Virginia. African Americans and other Americans have protested and fought for the Civil Rights Act of 1965 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Virginia was friendly to Republicans in thenational level more in the 1960's. Some conservatives in Virginia went against the Democratic

Party, because of President Lyndon Johnson's passage of civil rights legislation. Virginia's GOPback then was more moderate back in the 1960's and the 1970's. Virginia elected themoderate Republican A. Linwood Holton Jr. in 1970. He was the first Republican Governor inthe 20th century, which ended the influence of the Byrd Organization. Other moreconservative Governors came in Virginia which was former Democrat Mills Godwin and JimGilmore. The famous Senator John Warner and Congressman Tom Davis exemplified themoderate/conservative tendencies of Virginia Republicans. Democrats were Governors from1982 to 1994. Chuck Robb was elected Governor in 1981 being and Gerald L. Baliles waselected in 1985 as Governor. I remember seeing Chuck Robb walking was down the street ina parade many years ago shaking hands. In 1989, Douglas Wilder was electedGovernor of Virginia. This was historical, because Douglas Wilder was Virginia'sfirst African American Governor in history. Douglas Wilder is a famous person to

this very day. Wilder was the grandson of American slaves. He was named afterthe poet Paul Laurence Dunbar and the abolitionist Frederick Douglass. DouglasWilder served in the Korean War earning a Bronze Star for his heroism at Chop Hill.He gained a law degree at Howard University School of Law under the G.I. Bill.Douglas Wilder was the first African American elected as a state Senator in

Virginia since Reconstruction. Wilder was the mayor of the city of Richmond. I’vebeen to Richmond before and Richmond is a city with a massive amount of development in its downtown area. It’s a city on the move. Today, Douglas Wilderis an adjunct professor in public policy at Virginia Commonwealth University.Douglas Wilder served as the 66th Governor of Virginia from 1990 to 1994. The NAACPawarded Wilder the Spingam Medal for 1990. He was the Lieutenant Governor of Virginiabeing the first black American to be elected to statewide office in Virginia. As governor,

Douglas Wilder tried to handle crime initiatives, transportation issues, and in May 1990 he didsomething. He ordered state agencies and universities to divest themselves of anyinvestments in South Africa, because of its then policy of apartheid. This made Virginia thefirst southern state to take such action. There is nothing wrong with that policy. He is pro-abortion, which I am not. By 2001, Virginia elected Mark Warner as Governor and in 2005 Tim

Kaine was Governor of Virginia. He was once Lt. Governor in 2005. The lesson of DouglasWilder is that anybody regardless of their background or what they look likehave equal worth, equal value, and have every right to fulfill their ownaspirations and dreams within their own lives. All people should be treatedwith respect and dignity. Life is never truly about being stationary or seeingthings as they are. Life is about dreaming of what things can become and usinga firm, dedicated plan of action in order to achieve personal fulfillment.

Virginia voted for a Republican for the Presidency in every election since 1952 except for theDemocratic landslide in President Johnson's election in 1964 and Virginia voted for Barack Obama in 2008. Virginia's former streak of voting for Republicans in 10 consecutivePresidential election (from 1968 to 2004) began with Richard Nixon's Southern Strategy. Virginia was the only state to vote for Gerald Ford over Jimmy Carter in 1976. Today, Virginia



is experiencing rapid and constant political changes. Virginia was the state that voted forBarack Obama during the 2008 Presidential election. Virginia didn't vote for a DemocraticPresidential candidate since Lyndon Baines Johnson. The 2 present Senators of Virginia areJim Webb and Mark Warner.

Jim Gilmore and Mark Warner are surely the representation of people who are right on manythings and I disagree with them on other issues. These 2 men represent different philosophiesthat are common in Virginia. Jim Gilmore was a famous Governor who lead from 1998until 2002. He created the SOL or the Standards of Learning reforms in Virginia'spublic school. During his term, Virginia's public school students’ scores increased on thesestate tests as well as nationally normalized tests. Gilmore is known as promoting thecontroversial no car tax and other reducing taxes plans. This occurred around the time nearand at 9/11. Gilmore increased funding for adoption services and supported a waiting periodplus partial birth abortion ban. Today, Gilmore aligns with the Republican Party, theDepartment of Homeland Security (which is an authoritarian group that wants to violate civil



liberties of American citizens), and is a political commentator on FOX News. Mark Warneronce was Governor and was very popular since he was a moderate and caused the state tobe rated A- by the Government Performance Project in conjunction with the Governingmagazine (along with the Pew Charitable Trust) in a 2 year study. Mark Warner as a Governorwas a moderate Democrat and back when he was Governor, his popularity was exceptionallyhigh. As governor, Warner worked with the Democrats and moderate Republicans to reform

the tax code, he lowered food and some income taxes, and increased the sales and cigarettetaxes. This tax package increased taxes by $1.5 billion annually. Warner believed that theadditional revenues came with saving the state’s AAA bond rating, which was held in only 5other states in that time. Mark Warner’s greatest achievement in Virginia probably is hisinvestment in education and fighting for educational reform in the state of Virginia. Since, Virginia is very serious about education, you can’t be an effective Governor her in Virginiawithout executing an effective means to build up the functions of our educational systems. Hewas famous for being involved in the telecommunications venture capital. He was aCongressional staff and a Democratic Party fundraiser in the 1980's. Mark Warner calls

Virginia "The best managed state in the nation." In 2009, Virginia recently elected aRepublican Governor named Bob McDonnell. He replaced the previous Governor of Tim Kaine.The reason that Bob McDonnell was elected was because of the hostility toward the

Democratic establishment and the Democratic candidate Craig Deeds didn't have much namerecognition around Virginia (and his campaign wasn't that aggressive). Politically, HamptonRoads is mixed with Republicans and Democrats strongly represented in region. I'm fromHampton Roads. The Richmond region is mostly Democratic and Northern Virginia is definitelymostly Democratic & liberal as well. Western Virginia is made up of mostly conservatives andRepublicans. There are exceptions to these descriptions of course.

The Confederacy is in debate again even in 2010. Virginia's Governor Bob McDonnell wanted Virginians to respect Confederate History month. People disagreed with that because of thecontroversial history of the Confederacy. McDonnell was forced to apologized for not originallymentioning words in the declaration to criticize slavery. This signifies that a revisionistneo-Confederate distortion of history is common all over the world. We know the

real history of the Confederacy. The neo-Confederate agenda is based on lies sincealthough many factors were instrumental in causing the Civil War (like tradeissues, political issues, etc.). The major issue of the Confederacy's existence wasto maintain and spread the evil slavery system (not to mention that the Popesupported Jefferson Davis and the British Empire via Palmerton funded theConfederacy slavery system). The International financiers wanted a Civil War to divide America up to economically control it. This doesn't mean that all of the Union were perfect (asLincoln made errors and war crimes existed on both sides during the Civil War). Lincoln'sEmancipation Proclamation didn't go far enough since it only freed the slaves in the Southernterritories. He admitted as much in a letter to Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase: “Theoriginal proclamation has no… legal justification, except as a military measure.” These errorsdon't justify slavery or the Confederacy leadership's evil intensions though. Lee oversaw

slaves until December 1862 and Davis defended slavery his entire career. Jefferson Davis wasmore racist than Robert E. Lee and he was the President of the Confederacy. No real black man or black woman I know would of supported Davis when he demonized black people asinferior and wanted slavery throughout the war until the last moment. Toward the end of thewar Davis led the fight to grant slaves their freedom in exchange for military service. Whenthe Confederate Congress began to debate a bill that would allow slaves to serve in the army,Davis insisted that slaves who performed this service be granted their freedom, even if theydidn't serve in combat roles. Davis wrote to Governor William Smith of Virginia that he



promised ". . . to seek legislation to secure unmistakably freedom to the slave who shall enterthe Army with a right to return to his old home when he shall have been honorablydischarged from the Military Service." The South's own Cornerstone Speech and theTexas, Mississippi, Georgia, and South Carolina had declarations of secession.These declarations outlined slavery as a major reason for their secessions. TheSouth declared that Northern abolitionists had been demanding an end to slavery for decades.

Many Southern newspapers in that time in the Confederacy wanted to maintain the racistsystem of slavery. Here's sources to prove it.

``Our Ideal is a Pro Slavery Republic.''--Augusta, Georgia Daily Constitutionalist

``This struggle has set the seal of providence before the eyes of the world upon domesticslavery. Above all, it is this that lends an awful sacredness to this contest on our part--that therightful claims of Jehovah are deeply involved.''--William A. Hall, in a lecture entitled ``The Historical Significance of the SouthernRevolution''

These quotes from a variety of southern religious and political leaders and major southerneditors make clear the central position of black slavery in this ``southern mission.'' This issomething that Kurt Nimmo forgotten to mention in his articles supporting the Confederacy.See, these neo-confederates forgot that the leadership of the Confederacy called black

people inferior and continued slavery way into 1865. Jefferson Davis tried to desperatelyfree blacks not because of any type social concern of them, but he wanted to use them forwarfare. The Confederacy existed with mighty tyranny against people of black descent.

Lee, in other words, regarded slavery as an “evil”—but a necessary evil ordained by God asthe “white man’s burden”. Far from expressing opposition to the institution of slavery, the

purpose of his letter was actually to condemn abolitionists. The letter was an approvingnote on a speech by then-President Franklin Pierce, which praised Pierce’s opposition tointerference with Southern slavery. Lee kept slaves as long as he could and he criticizedabolitionists. Lee even had doubts on secession to form his notes from a letter (in January

23, 1861. He changed his mind later on to defend Southern secession). Lee believed in themental & social inferiority of blacks. The second sentence of Mississippi's declaration says:"Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery - the greatest material

interest of the world." The Confederates tried to build a nation on the Cornerstone belief that all men are NOT created equal, and adopted a constitution that barred any and all lawslimiting slavery in any way, forever…” . All 7 of the states that initially seceded before

Lincoln took office issued statements putting forward the threat they perceived from his

presidency to slavery as the major if not the sole cause of their secession. If these statesdon't secede & take over federal installations, there is no firing on Sumter. If there is no

firing on Sumter, Lincoln doesn't call up 75K men and the rest of the states probably do notsecede. Slavery WAS the root cause of the Civil War including other reasons.

Southern racism extended the oligarchical notion of blood and breeding beyond color, to viewsouthern whites who were not of the planter class, and northerners, of no matter what wealthand class, as inferior beings. The neo-Confederates need to realize that state rights



aren't superior to the Constitution or God-given human rights. Human rightstrumps states rights. Even state governments can not enact corruption and if thestate can't reform themselves, the federal government has every right to make thenecessary reforms. All human beings are created equal and all deserve equalprotection under the law (in the basis of equality to live, to work, and to have theirown pursuit of happiness). Even the Constitution offer provisions to make

necessary reforms and legitimate changes to improve the conditions in society.Robert L. Dabney, the Chaplain to Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson believed that the Confederacywas moral. In its “Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify theSecession of South Carolina from the Federal Union,” South Carolina, the first state to secedestate that they wanted to expand the institution of slavery. The Confederate Constitutionsupported slavery in the words:

"...``Article 1, Section 9. (3) No bill of attainder, or ex post facto law, or law denying orimpairing the right of property in negro slaves shall be passed.''

Virginia's own secession ordinance, which asserted that the state was leaving the Unionbecause the federal government had "perverted" its powers "not only to the injury of the

people of Virginia, but to the oppression of the Southern slaveholding States."

Alexander Stephens or the Vice President of the CSA didn't want black equality and made thatclear in his own words: "...Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; itsfoundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal tothe white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normalcondition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon thisgreat physical, philosophical, and moral truth....”

This is contrary to the Knight of Malta Pat Buchannan's claim that Virginia never secededbecause of slavery. Surely slavery was a significant part of the conflict for the 30 percent of Virginians who were slaves and did, in fact, welcome the advancing Union soldiers as

liberators. In 1860 about 60 percent of the human beings in Virginia were slaves .Pat is known for controversial views. Buchanan supported apartheid. He wroteadmiringly of neo-Nazi and ex-Klansman David Duke. He also admired the goodqualities that he saw in Adolph Hitler!!! In a 1977 column, Buchanan wrote thatdespite his genocidal tendencies, Hitler was "an individual of great courage...Hitler's success was not based on his extraordinary gifts alone. His genius was anintuitive sense of the mushiness, the character flaws, the weakness masqueradingas morality that was in the hearts of the statesmen who stood in his path." Abraham Lincoln started printing money called “Greenbacks” to fund their side of the CivilWar. So, I can't support the Confederacy. This doesn't mean the Union was perfect. Some of these same Union leaders would oppress the Native Americans in the Mountain West duringthe latter part of the 19th century. I believe in Reconstruction, because Reconstruction at

least promoted some reforms and liberties in the South. With Reconstruction, you had the 13,the 14th, and the 15th Amendments in the Constitution that extended human rights amongmore human beings. Reconstruction was gone by the Black Codes and Jim Crow. We canlearn about the history about the Civil War (as the Civil War has complex stories), but weshould never repeat the evil legacy of the Confederacy especially in Virginia where I'm from.In Richmond, there is a Museum of the Confederacy, so this issue is personal with me. Thereare Confederate statues in Hampton Roads not only in Richmond too. Yet, I want to make thisclear. I don't believe in hating a person, because of the region they may reside in. Many



people fought for real causes and tried to improve the quality of life or living in America (allacross America and in the South too) today and centuries ago. Many people in the South back then wanted true freedom for all people, so bigotry collectively against a whole region iswrong too. Although, we shouldn’t whitewash history. Neo-confederates want to whitewashhistory in order to justify the crimes of the Confederacy and some people in the antebellumperiod of American period. We in this generation should not whitewash a thing. All of good

and bad aspects of American life ought to be made available to the public. In order tomake real solutions in a society, you don’t omit the evils in the past. Youlearn about it, so you don’t make the same wicked mistakes from thepast toward the future. In other words, you use the lessons from thepast to grow the improvements in the future that can bloom with thetree of liberty, equality, and personal tranquility.

Recently, there has been public school budget cuts in Virginia and across the

nation. That is why many teachers have organized protests about this policies in

D.C., Rhode Island, and other regions of America. McDonnell advocated cutting

$300 million from health programs, $730 million from K-12 education, changing the state

retirement system, and requiring 10 days of furloughs for state employees, all to offset a$2.2 billion budget shortfall over 2010-2012. The legacy of the controversial Virginian

Governor Bob McDonnell is still being written in the history books. McDonnell was

born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but he moved in Fairfax, Virginia very early in

his life. Today, some pro-life leaders want to cut Planned Parenthood funding

that exists from taxpayers in Virginia. People already know the real history of

Margaret Sanger and Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood claims to deal with



family services, but these services readily include aiding in abortions.

One a positive note, here’s some trivia about Virginia. Our state flower isn’t reallya flower, but it’s the dogwood tree. This I also ou state tree. Virginia has beencalled the “Internet Capital of the World.” We have the Great Dismal Swamp in

Chesapeake near the North Carolina border. Many of our kinfolks are from NorthCarolina or lived there. Some of my relatives came from North Carolina from myfather’s side. There has been wild ponies traveling in Assateague Island forcenturies.

The more the things change, the more they stay the same is an old cliché. It’scertainly apart of real today. The good news is that with a wide spectrum of mediashowing what’s really going on in the planet, there are no excuses for an ableperson to not have opportunity to see the real truth. Now, it’s 2010. It’s a new erawith some of the same problems from the past, yet we certainly have a newinsight that can carry forth the fight against evil toward the future. Culturally,

American society is in a crossroads period. There is the advent of the Tea Party

movement. The progressives, conservatives, and other political ideological humanbeings are vying for the heart and soul of the U.S. Yet, beyond these people is abasic resonating reality. These people including the independents have nomonopoly on idealism. Idealism is a part and parcel of any free thinking humanbeing in the world over. That is why it’s intrinsic that we not only write wordsdown or talk, but we should do the right thing in helping people magnificently outof sincere love for humanity. We ought to maintain our core convictions, and be ancritical, inspiring example among the citizens in America plus the people



inhabiting the world.

In our time, you hear the words of no more excuses. I contemplate about the noexcuses mantra. Do you tell a person whose home has been gone no excuses? Doyou tell a homeless person destitute and seeking basic living conditions noexcuses? Do you tell a person without wealth and suffering in an extreme level no

excuses? The answer to those questions are uniformly No. The truth is that there’sa profound difference between personal responsibility among an able bodied, non-poor human being and ignoring the struggles in the existence of life. You don’tignore poverty, bigotry, economic exploitation, and other evils in the world andsay no excuses. It’s really no excuses for the global elite causing much of turmoilin the world. I’m not going to tell a bootless person get up by your bootstraps andsurvive on your own without any assistance. Some of the no excuses crowd live ina naïve world. It’s a fact in human history that all people have had assistance oneway or the other. Even the Founding Fathers used some of the French military todefeat the British Empire during the Revolutionary War. That is why it purely anexcellent prescription to assist those in need. This has nothing to do withpermanent dependency or submissiveness. On the other hand, it’s about giving a

hand up to allow people to have an opportunity to better their own lives. We oughtto never sell out our human dignity for worldly social acceptance. In our mindsand hearts, we should promote wisdom in that we should never beashamed of our heritage or background. Yet, at the same time we shouldrespect all people as equals.

By Timothy

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Virginian Politics