Last night the Democratic ticket for Virginia was decided. I am very happy with the outcome and I'll tell you why. Let me start wirh an interesting link about Virginia Politics:Politics of Virginia
The politics of Virginia reflect a state that is beginning to experience a conflict between its increasingly liberal northern region and its traditionally conservative southern region
I post this not because it is so great but because it is a magnificent understatement as well as something that clearly goes beyond Virginia. I have to give you my perspective for I do not claim to be anywhere near expert on Virginia politics. I came here to teach at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond in 1973. I am a true carpet bagger. Later than the time the term was coined but here like they were. I just had had a stint at Harvard Medical School and among other things they did not like my idea of organizing the Harvard workers into unions. I went to Meharry Medical College in Nashvilloe for a few years and decided I was taking up a slot that an upcoming young black scientist should have. So I came to Virginia. My view of politics had been formed during the 1960s in Buffalo where I held my first faculty job. I came to that job from a postdoc in Israel, cutting the neat postdoc short because of my concern about the Vietnam war. I was with Dr Spock and resist as we fought the draft. I chaired an umbrella organization in Buffalo that housed abot 26 different left organizations including Communists, Socialists, and all kinds of splinter groups along with Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.(WILPF). There were protests, arrests, beatings by cops and federal marshalls and a whole lot more.
Coming to Virginia after those years of intense painful struggle was a shock! My take was to see Virginia as a backward nest of really isolated people.
So when I read the link above I have certain inbuilt reactions. Read on below and I will explain.
I have told you about who I am for I believe in subjective writing and hate the illusion of "objectivity". Given that how do I see Virginia as a model for the way we can become a civilized nation? Here we are in one of the worst times the Commonwealth has experienced. An Attorney General who is orchestrated by the Koch Bros and witchhunted Michael Mann. Legislators who wait years for an adminstration like this to enact repressive laws, especially those against women.
I flash back to the sixies and beyond and see a movement ready to change the country beaten down as liberal candidates were rejected again and agin.
Another perspecive about me...I supported them all. I became a charter member of DSA when Michael Harrington formed it in the early eighties.
I worked and participated. Was thrown out of the democratic party here in Virginia, in effect, because I was too radical. That has happened again and again but I am still a member of our local Democratic Committee.
Flash forward to now. Last night we chose the next slate for the State offices. I had some fun on the live blog cheerleading for Ralph Northam. That was apparfantly a no-no but I need to explain to those who thought the alternative was the way to go.
I'll use Ralph Northam as the central figure in my speculation about our state being a model for the future.
The reality of Ralph's win has nothing to do with party politics. It has to do with real politics. The country is in trouble. The parties in gridlock are not helping. Ralph represents an alternative to that kind of useless politics.
Ralph is a Pediatric Neurologist. That means his life has been engaged with helping children with neurological problems. He is also a very honest man and has a rather unusual person in politics for politics will never erase the years of compassionate care for children in need.
I won't say more about Ralph because I want to suggest a model he stimulates. Professional politicians have failed big time. The whole field of politics is part of the problem rather than the solution
His actions viewed from the right left perspective may make some question him as a standard bearer for the party as was suggested with some intense vitriol last night. That, in my mind, is why we have lost so many times. We measure on this phony right left scale. What we need to save our country is for more people like Ralph Northam to enter politics. People who have dealt with suffering and have compassion and are willing to undergo the derision of the pros.
So Virginia has demonstrated something far more profound than any of the pundits will write about. The people are capable of seeing a good man when he enters the ring. I'll repeat. Last night went beyond politics. The people, all over the state, were able to see a really good man and voted for him. Yes, low turnout and all that stuff. But why did they come out like they did rather than those who were supposed to vote to defeat him? It boils down to GOTV doesn't it? Well learn from this. The kind of candidate is far more important than party ties or ideology. Let's change this country.