My neighborhood and the entire community get scarier as Halloween approaches. Skeletons are emerging from the ground, gravestones are appearing in what looked like regular yards, white ghosts are wafting under trees, and the biggest spiders I have ever seen are weaving rope-size webs across the shrubbery. Soon our doorbells will be ringing as various monsters, ghosts and goblins insist on a treat to ward off tricks!
A real effort at scaring us last week came not from the Halloween decorations or festivities but from a postcard delivered by the postman. The over-size postcard sent on behalf of my political opponent by the Republican Party of Virginia warned on a black background with red highlights that “Virginia’s Future is in Peril.” In the shadowy background of the card were photo-shopped images of New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Speaker of the US. House of Representatives and Californian Nancy Pelosi, former governor and now candidate Terry McAuliffe, and a stern-looking photo of me.
Presumably the four of us represent the “peril” faced by Virginians. Among the eight examples listed in full caps on the card with a red “X” by each were “government run healthcare, green new deal, more government regulations, higher taxes, defunding our police, dangerous communities, critical race theory, and lower standards in schools.” The purpose of these terms is to raise fear among voters to influence their decisions. A close examination of them shows clearly that they are no more to be feared than the Halloween decorations.
Virginia did expand Medicaid to include a half-million more people who were previously without health care, but I am not sure why that could be viewed as so perilous as to lead to government run healthcare. A Green New Deal bill was introduced in the legislature, but it never made it out of committee. The Virginia Energy Act that passed will help reduce air pollution. More government regulations and higher taxes are boogey men that are raised every election cycle, but they make no sense in a business-friendly state like Virginia that has low taxes.
While advocates for policing reform in other states used the term “defunding the police,” the General Assembly and the Governor in Virginia increased funding for police, raised their standards, and gave them a raise. As for our communities becoming more dangerous, there is only one statistic to support that concern and that is related to gun violence. New legislation on gun violence will make our communities safer by keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people.
Critical race theory is not taught in any Virginia school at any level. The theory is discussed among some academic scholars at the university level. Standards have not been lowered in Virginia schools; only the amount of testing has been reduced at parents’ request to make more time for teaching and learning.
Soon the scary things in the neighborhoods will go away as Halloween passes. The imaginary perils of Virginia’s future will go away with the elections.
Ken Plum is a member of the Virginia House of Delegates.
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