Bacon's Rebellion

The Virginia Way

—

by

Robin Beres
in , , , ,

by Robin Beres

Politicians and pundits have invoked the “Virginia Way” in speeches and writings since colonial times. The phrase is used by partisans to evoke sentiments of decency and honor (and votes) in residents of the Old Dominion. In 1926, Douglas Southall Freeman wrote in an editorial for The Richmond News Leader that the “Virginia way is not one of contention, but of understanding, not the making of humiliating laws, but the establishment of just, acceptable usage. Public sentiment can be trusted now, as always, to find the best ‘Virginia way.’”

In January 2019, writing in Bearing Drift, Brian Schoeneman described how the “Virginia way” used to work in the legislature: “Republicans and Democrats would fight hard and long during the campaign season, and when the fighting was over, both sides would pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and govern effectively for all Virginians. The bitter invective and the accusations went away.”

Unfortunately, if the childish, vindictive sign seen today in a Richmond front yard is any indication of today’s political atmosphere, the Virginia Way is in big trouble.

Share this article

ADVERTISEMENT

(comments below)

Comments

Comments

40 responses to “The Virginia Way”

  1. DJRippert Avatar
    DJRippert

    How anybody could hate Glenn Youngkin is beyond me. I’m a Republican but I can’t imagine saying I hate Mark Warner. I may disagree with Warner but he’s an honest man trying to do the best he can.

    If people want to spew political hate, I’d advise focusing on the fringe politicians – Bernie Sanders, AOC, Marjorie Taylor Green. It’s politicians like them who unendingly polarize the country.

    1. M. Purdy Avatar
      M. Purdy

      Did you hate Ralph Northam?

      1. Donald Smith Avatar
        Donald Smith

        No. I felt sorry for him. His responsibilities overwhelmed him. He bit off more than he could chew.

        1. Lefty665 Avatar
          Lefty665

          That’s what happens when we put Docs in charge of actually running something.

    2. Eric the half a troll Avatar
      Eric the half a troll

      You think Bernie deserves hate…?

    3. Lefty665 Avatar
      Lefty665

      “trying to do the best he can.”

      And succeeding, The problem being that he’s dumb as a stump. His best is not of much account. It’s an embarrassment to Virginia, and the Senate, that he’s Chairman of the “Intelligence” committee.

      1. VaNavVet Avatar
        VaNavVet

        If only more of us could be so “dumb”and successful.

        1. Lefty665 Avatar
          Lefty665

          Save us from that. It’s bad enough to have Warner in the Senate and his even more bricks shy of a full load twin in the White House.

          1. VaNavVet Avatar
            VaNavVet

            Neither you nor I will ever be as successful as either one of them has been either in politics or in business. So you might as well face facts.

    4. VaNavVet Avatar
      VaNavVet

      Does anybody think that Governor Youngkin really cares that he is so unpopular and that his policies are so detested by younger voters? After all he campaigned on bringing the Commonwealth together.

  2. James McCarthy Avatar
    James McCarthy

    The 1926 editorial lauding the Virginia Way was only two years later than the Commonwealth’s Racial Integrity and Sterilization acts. Finding the “best Virginia way” may mean looking away. By the early 60s, massive resistance was the Virginia way. Not so many years ago, the Virginia way produced a constitutional ban on same sex marriage. Atmospheric political pollution is not easily scrubbed from the environment.

    1. Carter Melton Avatar
      Carter Melton

      This post had to do with the process of governing. I love folks who look in the mirror and see only beauty and perfection looking back, and then look out the window and see only warts and blemishes.

      1. DJRippert Avatar
        DJRippert

        Your point about the process of governing being the point of the post is right. However, Mr. McCarthy does make some good points. While the Plantation Elite who ran Virginia from about 1870 to 1970 might have operated in a genteel manner, they also politely instituted some pretty awful (even for the times) policies.

        1. James McCarthy Avatar
          James McCarthy

          As the Jesuits taught, the process of governance may be distinguished from the results of governing but it cannot be separated. IMO, today, folks know more about both aspects of government. The Virginia way could succeed when the sentiment of the public was far more quiescent.

      2. James McCarthy Avatar
        James McCarthy

        Love being loved. Back at you.

    2. VaNavVet Avatar
      VaNavVet

      You can add in banning inter-racial marriage with VA versus Loving.

  3. Don Crawford Avatar
    Don Crawford

    Sad. I wonder if they hate Mr Youngkin personally or his policies?

  4. Randy Huffman Avatar
    Randy Huffman

    Trump won because of the swamp that was developing in Washington, and many people had enough. Polarization started long before Trump came around, and it came primarily from the Left.
    The swamp is alive in a big way right now, and Biden, who campaigned on a promise to bring people together, is no less partisan, arrogant and insulting than Trump is.

    1. M. Purdy Avatar
      M. Purdy

      Trump won because of the electoral college. And if anything, he made DC even more of a swamp than it had been.

      1. Randy Huffman Avatar
        Randy Huffman

        Trump won via the electoral college, like every President before him. Rules are set in advance, and that is how you campaign to win.

        Trump did not make Washington more of a swamp, he is the exact opposite of that. But I do agree he contributed to the Polarization going on right now.

        1. M. Purdy Avatar
          M. Purdy

          Actually, most presidents, though not all, win the popular vote along with the electoral college.

          1. Lefty665 Avatar
            Lefty665

            The compromise between large states and small states that gave us the Electoral College and Congress are why we have one nation. Without it the small and less populous states never would have ratified the Constitution.

            Most of the time the popular vote and the Electoral College vote coincide which is what we would expect. Occasionally, when the country is closely divided, that varies, as designed, to keep large states from running rough shod over the rest of the country. We saw that happen in both ’16 and ’20.

            We can say “thank you” for our founders wisdom in giving us the Electoral College, and for it working as designed by protecting the country from domination by a couple of large states.

            Those guys certainly had their shortcomings and failures, but there was an awful lot they got right as they invented a new and better way for people to govern themselves.

          2. M. Purdy Avatar
            M. Purdy

            I sort of agree with you, actually. I could either way on the electoral college. I like counter-majoritarian aspects of the Const. What I don’t like is that it’s really the only thing saving the Republican party at this point. They haven’t won a national popular vote since 2004, and wield enormous power through the Senate. All of this even though their platform is quite unpopular, parts of it toxic.

          3. Lefty665 Avatar
            Lefty665

            Glad we find some areas of agreement:)

          4. James McCarthy Avatar
            James McCarthy

            Tough not to lean toward such arguments. However, more populous (not “big”) states running rough shod over smaller (less populous states) is a myth echoing the nefarious tyranny of the majority. If the EC formula is so attractive and wondrous, it ought to be applied in Congress weighting votes by population. While at it, the same would apply to state county jurisdictions.

            WTH is the problem with more populous states?

          5. Lefty665 Avatar
            Lefty665

            OK! It’s another Jim McCarthy silly walk. Congrats.

            The “tyranny of the majority” is no myth, it is fact, simple math. Our founders dealt explicitly with that issue. They resolved it through the structure of Congress and the Electoral College.

            The Electoral College and Congress are structured in the same way by balancing national population and representation by state.

            Although it is embarrassing to have to explain it to you, the House of Representatives does weigh votes by population. It has 435 members equally apportioned according to population. The Senate has two (2) members for each state. The Electoral College has 535 votes, one each for each member of the House and Senate.

            Thus both population and small state representation are balanced.

            It is really a rather ingenious solution that ensures that substantial majorities can govern while preventing narrow majorities driven by mobs in large (populous) states from running rough shod over the country.

            In colonial times that functionally meant keeping idiots in New York from wrecking the country. More recently that is New York and California.

          6. James McCarthy Avatar
            James McCarthy

            Sooo boring!! Time to ID a new put down.

            “Mobs in large states”! How large? VA sized? Let all know of the most recent instances of more populous states running rough shod over the country. Y’all forgot to mention the US Senate with 100 little Presidents where one member from the smallest of states can stymie the appointments of agency heads and judges. The Senate is wildly undemocratic with respect to population distribution and the inordinate power it wields. That distortion Carrie’s through to the EC providing unequal weight to the vote of less populous states over more populous states. What’s even more boring and ludicrous is your allusion to idiots in colonial times. Get past such anachronisms and live in the present.

          7. Lefty665 Avatar
            Lefty665

            It’s another Jim Mccarthy silly walk, this time especially nonsensical. Congrats, you’ve outdone yourself.

            Perhaps you will organize your own Constitutional Convention and change the way our government is organized and has run for more than 200 years. I’m sure the Senate will heed your advice and change the way it has arranged its rules to suit your wishes.

            “What’s even more boring and ludicrous is your allusion to idiots in colonial times. Get past such anachronisms and live in the present.”

            Actually I did, I included present idiots too. Here’s what I said:

            “In colonial times that functionally meant keeping idiots in New York from wrecking the country. More recently that is New York and California.“

            I encourage you work on your reading comprehension.

        2. VaNavVet Avatar
          VaNavVet

          The many investigations and possible indictments will demonstrate how comfortable Trump felt in the so called swamp.

  5. Lefty665 Avatar
    Lefty665

    Does that sign qualify as the dreaded “hate speech”?

  6. VaPragamtist Avatar
    VaPragamtist

    Sure, the yard sign is ridiculous and can be a literal sign of how polarized we’ve become.

    But there’s a certain irony in writing a whole article pointing out how a one citizen’s yard sign goes against “the Virginia way”–an implicit “look at what they’re doing! Shame on them!”

    The Virginia way also means rising above and ignoring petty slights that have zero effect on anything, other than making the sign’s owner feel good. This article is not the Virginia way.

    1. VaNavVet Avatar
      VaNavVet

      Well said!

  7. Eric the half a troll Avatar
    Eric the half a troll

    As I always told my kids, “hate” is a strong word…

  8. M. Purdy Avatar
    M. Purdy

    Carole, what is it that I did that you removed my post critical of Glenn Youngkin?

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Last four words.

  9. Donald Smith Avatar
    Donald Smith

    Hey! It looks as if y’all had a party! What did I miss? 🙂

  10. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
    James Wyatt Whitehead

    Looking over Freeman’s 1926 editorial prompted me to pull out Uncle Charlie’s 1924 VMI yearbook and scrapbook. I was surprised to find a number of Japanese and Chinese students pictured as cadets. Cultural exchange students 100 years before it was fashionable.

  11. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    I feel fairly certain that my hatred harms me more than the people whom I hate. -Max Frisch, architect, playwright, and novelist (15 May 1911-1991)

  12. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Uh yep, the sign says, “hate”. Doesn’t say why, nor who “I” is. Could be one of your own. Virginia also has a history of treason. Okay, okay, maybe not treason. Let’s just say, “less than loyal.”

    1. Lefty665 Avatar
      Lefty665

      and “down” is sometimes “up”? Them’s what are most obsessed with hate and expansive about what constitutes it seem to be clustered in one corner of the spectrum.

Leave a Reply

ADVERTISEMENT