Democrats won a major victory in Virginia on Tuesday, dashing Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s hopes of bringing the blue-leaning state back from the brink. Newly emboldened Democrats are now likely to make him a sideshow in his own state — but that’s one act we’d all be better off not seeing.
After two years of a split government, Youngkin hoped to finally walk away with a state legislature unified under Republican control. A unified government would have freed him to tackle campaign promises on public safety and parental rights that Democrats had stymied the past two years. It would have also supercharged his political capital, highlighting his influence down-ballot and making him a top contender on the national scene, if and when he ever decided to enter the fray.
Yet that didn’t materialize. Instead, Democrats retained their majority in the state Senate and flipped control of the House of Delegates. Youngkin will now have his hands tied for the rest of his term. Whatever political capital he may have gained from his upset has fizzled, engendering more skepticism than momentum. (RELATED: Did The Dem Sweep Of Virginia Just Crush Glenn Youngkin’s Political Ambitions?)
In normal times, a divided government might not be such a bad thing. It would force Democrats to moderate, and for both sides to find common ground. Yet Democrats soared to victory largely on a wave of abortion fear mongering, and are unlikely to tone down the hysteria with a presidential election now less than a year out. The swarms of D.C. bureaucrats now deciding elections in tiny Northern Virginia suburbs are unable to resist any expansion in progressive sensibilities. Meanwhile, party leadership reveals the inmates have taken control of the asylum.
Today, Democrats won in Virginia and protected reproductive freedom.
But make no mistake: Abortion and so many other fundamental freedoms are going to be on the ballot in 2024. That’s why we need you to join our campaign. pic.twitter.com/XNKJMei39M
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) November 8, 2023
Your parents probably told you, “If you’re unsure of a person’s character, look to the company they keep” — or something to that effect. The same is true in politics. If you want to understand a political movement — or party — look to those who are given a privileged status within the group. Its high-minded rhetoric and lofty goals mean nothing if it is surrounded by poor company.
Those Virginia Democrats sucking up much of the media spotlight are poor company indeed. Gisele Fetterman, Sen. John Fetterman’s handler — er, wife — once remarked, “Pot, porn, Planned Parenthood? I’m in,” when talking about the ideal future of liberal America. Well, Virginia Democrats are about to make that dream a reality.
Pot, porn, Planned Parenthood? I’m in.
— Gisele Barreto Fetterman (@giselefetterman) August 24, 2023
First, we have the infamous “Porn Dem” Susanna Gibson who, after a sex tape surfaced, went on to narrowly lose her House bid. Ten years ago, a public sex tape (along with soliciting money to perform sex acts) would have led her to drop out in shame, or if she didn’t, to a landslide defeat. But in 2023, the party rallied behind her and she came within 1,000 votes of being the nation’s first cam girl state legislator. And why shouldn’t she? Democrats are the party of free love — the party where “sex work is real work.”
Despite her loss, party leaders will surely represent her in spirit, given their own place in the social liberation matrix. (RELATED: A Felon, Weed Dealer And Sex Cam Performer: Meet The Dem Candidates Running For Office In Virginia’s Election)
Thank you so much! I am so excited to have been re-elected to a ninth term in the Senate of Virginia and with our now clinched Democratic Majority to be the next Chairman of Senate Finance and Appropriations!!! pic.twitter.com/iNvKlYL2Qp
— L. Louise Lucas (@SenLouiseLucas) November 8, 2023
If free love liberates your body, then pot liberates your mind. At least long-serving Senate leader Louise Lucas would likely agree. In her own words, Lucas is a “78 year [old] grandma who legalized pot and now has her own cannibis (sic) store.” Her dispensary in Portsmouth, Virginia, allegedly sells illegal cannabis products, according to an investigative report by the Virginia Mercury. She readily won re-election in Virginia’s 18th District.
Pot, porn, Planned Parenthood … and now prison. Democrat Don Scott of the 88th District, the minority leader of the House and head of the Democratic Caucus, readily won re-election against his Republican challenger. Being a felon once would have been disqualifying, but now, it’s a badge of honor. In the new Democratic Party, no one chooses to be a criminal. Rather, his record shows he is an oppressed victim of a cruel system that forces people to commit crime. He has the moral authority to fix the system from within.
Combined, all these figures represent the natural endpoint of liberalism: zero judgment, personal responsibility, or objective morality. Prisoners, pot heads, cam girls, and those who “shout their abortion” all defy America’s traditional norms of what it means to lead a good life. But in the liberal order, defying these norms is an act of courage, undermining the oppressive system that keeps people from being their authentic selves and finding happiness through fulfilling their desires.
Emboldened, Virginia Democrats will seek to build this shameless new world where deviance and destruction become the norm. Surely, not all in the party buy into this, but given the company they keep within their ranks, they are far too scared to stand up to it.