“DOES VIRGINIA WANT TO REWARD RAPISTS & INCEST & DENY OUR WOMEN THEIR RIGHTS TO PLAN THEIR FAMILIES APPROPRIATELY ??? (AND DENY VOTING RIGHTS TO ALL OUR QUALIFIED CITIZENS ?? )”
I recall attending a book sale at the University branch of the Charlottesville public library with my wife in my junior year or so, just up the Hill from our apartment at University Gardens where I purchased a collection of quotes mostly, by an editor so to speak of Mr. Jefferson’s creativity. Studying Chemistry, I wasn’t able to delve so deeply into our founder’s voluminous writings but I got a flavor of his thinking from Mr. Mayo’s selections. A most interesting example made a deep impression on me at the time and was brought to mind particularly when the far-right fascist racists besmirched the reputation of the grounds & town six years ago. It was in the section dealing with the challenge that has tested our nation (and yeah the world) for millennia, of course the comprehension and coexistence betwixt the so-called “races”. Mr Jefferson pointed out that although the caucasoid Europeans held total sway against the enslaved Africans, that in his moral judgement he “quaked in his boots” when he considered that the God he believed in was a JUST GOD and that retribution for all the mistreatment meted out against our brothers & sisters would surely be required by an eternal Judge of “Just Judgement”. (After all, ten genes - which determine Melanin count = skin color - out of twenty-five thousand is NOT a statistically significant fraction & does not infer any legitimate concept of ‘race” any more than eye color should !)
The sickness that currently afflicts what used to be the “Party of Lincoln”, that is; the loser racists who cannot compete on an even playing field and therefore try to CHEAT their way into power by appealing to the evil tendency nature of those who cannot or chose not to analyze society’s troubles truthfully is on the ballot in Mr. Jefferson’s “country” or commonwealth this Tuesday via rewarding gerrymandering & denial of voting rights to those of color. Said Party is now in the throes of Vladimir Putin’s puppet (or prostitute) Donald (the Chump) whose driving attributes consist mostly of Greed and Racism, and who is responsible for molesting two dozen women, stealing millions from contractors, diverse banks and the U.S. Government, and of course murdering half a million U.S. Citizens in a vain attempt to re-start an economy in the midst of a pandemic merely so as to achieve immunity of office in order to escape numerous crimes in New York & elsewhere. After failing in said endeavor he is continuing his servitude to his Master in the Kremlin (who installed him along with Tory Rupert Murdoch & Mammon worshipping Mark Suckerberg & Dorsey of “Lies R Us” facebook & “Tweets for Twits”) by spreading a “big lie” about the free & fair election of 2020. His extremist base has kowtow-ed the GOP (Greed Oiled Party ?) into mouthing obvious lies that 60 legal cases proved as vapid as Donnie’s little “mind”. The attack on Jeffersonian democracy on January 6th by racist, fascist, sexist losers is the most treasonous act by a sitting President in our History, the prosecution of which is being actively resisted by its perpetrators like Chump & his gutless wonder version of “Republicans”. (Whom I’m sure would be damned by Eisenhower, Theodore Roosevelt & Lincoln.) This sickness is represented in our Commonwealth’s Congressional contest by Glenn Chumpkin’s Republicans. No matter how slick the disguise, the POLICIES which are promoted by this apostle of Donald the Chump as Governor have only been thwarted by the Democrats majority in the Senate which should be expanded upon and joined by the return of the House of Delegates majority to the same in order to avoid the disastrous “reign of error” that Virginia will fall into otherwise & which we voted against three years ago by ten percentage points.
The right of women to be able to plan their families as it seems the Good Lord designed human reproduction to ensure in that the more nurturing half of humanity is naturally equipped to decide, is a particular target that the Party of Chumpkin was caught telling the truth about on tape (which he avoids discussing like the plague ever since) to join the rest of the South in denying women their god given right, in my opinion, to determine when to give birth in alignment with their economic & family desires to plan as is best for their particular circumstances. Some in said anti-freedom to plan party also indicate that women should be required to birth the results of rape & incest - not exactly a Christian moral position. This being unfortunately most relevant these years given the completely unrepresentative extremely right-wing so-called “supreme” court (whose most right-wing members seem to be “kept women” sorts by Billionaires) which was packed by McConnell’s denial of America’s presidential choice (twice) - that is Obama’s Constitutional right to choose a Justice with ten months left in his term (while allowing the Chump to choose one with less than three).
The most suicidal policy against the birthright of U.S. Citizens to free & fair elections - which should be counted accurately is being promulgated across the country by Chumps minions who are passing laws to STEAL elections which they lose (like the 2020 one) & which Chumpkin’s Party has indicate they would also be complicit in committing. The gerry-mandering said Republicans are so engaged in & who even refuse to follow the Supreme Court orders regarding such are rank examples of those who have no honor & CHEAT their way into power ! Absentee ballot rejections demonstrate their continued attempts at denying Virginians their right to vote franchise as well.
They also advocate weakening the background checks for firearms purchasers which continues the insane slaughter of U.S. Citizens at twenty-five times the rate at which the automatic weapons of war are allowed to butcher humans most anywhere else in the world thanks to the Satanic Rifle Association’s triple-profit-margin “God” of mammon, to which the GOP has become rank prostitutes for power-lust & thirty pieces of silver. (The second amendment - READ IT - was written regarding flintlocks that took a minute & a half to reload ONCE, before the National Guard = the “Organized Militia”was founded, not mega-death machine guns !). BTW the latest example that “thoughts & prayers” have ZERO effect on this National Disaster was seen in Maine.
If one was not sure about the nature to which today’s far-right wing “Republicans”
are appealing, their lies about critical race theory which has NEVER been taught in Virginia schools and their desire to “burn the books” of highly respected authors like Toni Morrison (who just “happened” to have been a woman of color) can clearly be seen as the racist “dog whistles” that Donald the Chump is so notorious for blowing at every turn.
Now, to contrast; the Jeffersonian Democrats are providing U.S. Citizens with the most wide-ranging improvement of societal support (as well as infrastructure rebuilding with some responsible Republicans) that will help most all families deal with pre-K education, lead (pipe) removal, climate change mitigation, Health care expansion, housing support and elderly assistance including hearing aids.
Virginia has done very well under the moderate Democrats that have been in office in the Senate of late, & in the House of Delegates until the last term. Let’s allow competent responsible leadership that speaks truth to treason to maintain our legislature to be truly representative of the people of Virginia as I’m sure Mr. Jefferson would prefer (because it’s the best for the long-term actual good of Virginians). Who-WaHoo ! (LeFevre -Metcalf ’72-3)
Dr. Steven Dwight Ferber Physical BioCHEMIST Ph.D. Howard University ’05
B.S. Chemistry University of Virginia. ’76
High School Yorktown H.S. Arlington Virginia ’72
Born & reared in Arlington County, Virginia
(also a sort of “All-but-Dissertation” stint at
Univ. Of Minnesota’s Physical Chemistry Dept ’76-’81)