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Secretary
of Foreign Affairs
With
a population of more than seven million and a
General Assembly wrestling with international
matters, why shouldn't Virginia get its own
foreign policy?
The
Constitution of the United
States purports
to give power in foreign affairs to the federal
government, but Virginians know better. It's
always been our
position that powers not expressly given by this
Commonwealth to the federal government remain with
the state. Such an interpretation is backed by the
highest possible authority:
Virginian Thomas Jefferson, the nation's first
Secretary of State, who wrote the basic rules on
foreign affairs as he did on most everything
else.
Virginia
is
bigger than half the states represented in the
United Nations. Why should Bulgaria and Cameroon
and not the Old Dominion
vote on invading Iraq when
troops and ships are coming from Virginia?
Read my lips, "No invasion without
representation!"
With
or without U.N. membership, Virginia is flexing
its diplomatic muscles. Ignoring the flag of the
Peoples Republic of Vietnam, the Virginia
House of Delegates passed a bill calling for the
display of the former Republic of South Vietnam.
Sovereign states have the right to recognize
nation's of their own choosing. (On the positive
side, for example, Virginia
recognizes the
Texas
flag,
even though it really belongs to the South
American country of Chile.)
Wiseacres
may ask, "If we don't recognize
Vietnam, how do
we know it is Vietnam?"
And capitulationists may point out that the United
States of America
recognizes Vietnam, its
flag and its ambassador in
Washington,
D.C.
But
there are numerous precedents to support
Virginia's position.
The
Commonwealth, remember, decided not to recognize
the United
States
seven
score
and some
years ago. We still don't recognize West
Virginia and have
sent only pep bands on periodic cultural missions
there. Our university football team and theirs
competed most recently on a neutral field to show
how sports are bigger than politics.
The
Speaker
of the House was entirely right to ignore the
protests from the Vietnamese Embassy. After all,
the Vietnamese Ambassador isn't accredited to
Virginia. None of
us would know the Vietnamese Ambassador if we sat
next to him at dinner. That's non-recognition
right there. A Virginian would be polite, of
course. "We have our own decision-making
processes, thank you, Mr. Stranger, please pass
the rice."
Consider
another example. The House of Delegates just
addressed a resolution to China
condemning the persecution of the Falun Gong
spiritual movement. One doesn't need to know
anything about Falun Gong to know that China
has not
until now had to consider the
Commonwealth
of Virginia
in its
balance-of-power equation. Wait until they wake up
to the fact that the Hampton
Roads complex of the U.S. Navy is located in Virginia. So
is the
Pentagon for that matter, not to mention a rocket
and satellite-launching facility on the
Eastern
Shore.
If
you expected the short, 45-day legislative session
this year to cut into the Falun Gong
deliberations, you seriously underestimated the
dedication of our delegates. They are not about to
abdicate core responsibilities such as foreign
policy.
So,
why can't
Virginia
have its
own Secretary of Foreign Affairs? With a Foreign
Secretary in the Governor's Cabinet, we could
undertake a systematic review of which foreign
flags to fly. There may be other foreign flags out
there that need to be redesigned, if not abandoned
altogether.
A
Foreign-Refugee-With-Axes-to-Grind Advisory Board
reporting to the Foreign Secretary also could keep
the General Assembly informed directly of new
threats. Virginia has a crying need for such a
board, given the refugees and emigrants from
dozens of countries that have taken up residence
here. A fully staffed Department of Symbolic
Gestures could help make the Commonwealth's
positions clearer for everyone -- except Vietnam
-- and
take the pressure off future General Assembly
meetings.
Job
one for the Secretary of Foreign Affairs would be
explaining why the State Police, local police
forces and sheriffs, the Department of Motor
Vehicles and Virginia's colleges and universities
are being asked to do the job of the U.S.
Immigration and Naturalization Service.
What do we care if immigrants are in the United
States
legally?
That's the federal government's problem, not
ours.
Why
let the feds interfere with our business? If
they're hung up on checking immigration documents,
let them provide the personnel to do it. Besides,
what's the sense in inspecting Virginia
residents from places such as Central
America
when we don't restrict other, more potentially
dangerous foreigners from places like
California
and New York?
Getting
this foreign policy stuff right will take time and
focus, in my humble opinion, through a new
Secretary of Foreign Affairs in the Governor's cabinet.
Fortunately, the House of Delegates thought of
that, too, when it voted to combine the Secretary
of the Commonwealth with the Secretary of
Administration. Not only did the delegates suggest
the Chicago
reform
model of government -- consolidating patronage and
procurement officials into the same department --
they opened up a chair at the cabinet meetings.
So,
it shouldn't be long until the Commonwealth has an
official response for the Daughters of Tyranny
International, who don't recognize the Virginia
flag.
Who do they think they are anyway in thinking they
can tell Virginians whose flag is official?
--
February 10, 2003
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