State governors are not usually known on a national level. Much like most state representatives, these leaders only seem to make national headlines if they are already famous, such as California’s former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, or if they have done something terribly wrong.
Now, this year, with the unprecedented COVID pandemic and near nationwide civil unrest, we have been given quite a few new names and faces to become acquainted with.
For the latter, I give the example of Virginia’s Democratic Governor Ralph Northam.
Northam is quite famous for several reasons.
Firstly, you might remember early last year, when a bill was put forth by Democratic Virginia Delegate Kathy Tran that sanctioned third-trimester abortions by doing away with the need to verify that the birth endangered the mother.
Northam advocated for the doomed to fail bill, even going so far as to suggest that he would fight for what he called “fourth-trimester abortions.” Northam stated that even after a child was born into the world, alive and likely screaming, it should be able to be “aborted,” although, at this stage, it’s pretty safe to call I murder.
Naturally, this made him quite a few enemies.
But it became even worse when a picture of a man in blackface standing next to a man dressed in a KKK robe was seen on the same page as Northam’s in his medical school yearbook. It was assumed that man was Northam.
And when asked about it, he admitted to it and apologized immediately. Only later, Northam denied that it was him in the photo.
So why the change of story?
Well, it seems that it wasn’t him, at least not in this instance. Northam had dressed in blackface but when had gone to a dance competition as Michael Jackson. He claims he had only done that once, and the memory of doing so had affected him so much that he would have certainly remembered doing it a second time.
Typically, the whole thing would have ended a politician’s career. However, it so happened that at the same time, his second in line, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, was being accused of very credible sexual assault charges. And the next guy, Attorney General Mark Herring, also had a past photo done in blackface.
And so, Northam survived, if only by the skin of his teeth.
Since then, he’s done a masterful job at making even more mistakes.
Like when, in 2019, the Virginia midterms allowed the Democrats to take control of the state’s legislature. At this time, Northam and his cronies put forth efforts to take away Virginians right to the Second Amendment.
Included in the proposed package was a ban of AR-15 style or “assault” weapons. Now, while most of his fellow Democrats agreed with Northam on the vast majority of gun control measures, this one was known to rile more than a few feathers. And so when it came time to vote in February, it didn’t pass.
However, the damage was already done. And Northam has since stated that “I will not stop and that piece of legislation will be introduced again to ban assault weapons (from) our streets.”
So the man has gone after abortion, race, and gun control, making new enemies at every turn.
What more could he do? Well, apparently, he’s been saving up for his attacks on religion.
On Thursday, in a news conference, the liberal governor proceeded to tell Virginians that just like they don’t need babies or guns, they also don’t need church or church pews.
He began by saying, “This is a holy time for multiple faith traditions. Christmas is two weeks away. The holidays are typically times of joy and community. We gather together, celebrate our faith, and we celebrate with family.”
“But this year we need to think about what is truly the most important thing. Is it worship or the building? For me, God is wherever you are. You don’t have to sit in the church pew for God to hear your prayers. Worship with a mask on is still worship. Worship outside or worship online is still worship.”
Now, I might be inclined to agree with him to some degree. God most certainly does meet you wherever you are at. But that’s not really the reason for church, is it? Sure, we pray and worship there. But we also encourage each other and learn more about our faith.
That we cannot do without others.
And yet Northam would have you give it up.
I guess if he can’t beat the Second Amendment, he’s going to come after the First.