The Radical Left Is Fundamentally Transforming Virginia
What would America be like today if Hillary Clinton had won the 2016 presidential election?
“Had Hillary Clinton been elected, the destructive trends that unfolded during the Obama presidency would have continued unchecked, and they surely would have intensified. Many people—including me—believe it would have meant an end to our constitutional republic!” This is what Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in his May-June 2018 Trumpet article “Saving America From the Radical Left—Temporarily.”
“They believe they are above the law,” he continued. “It is no exaggeration to say that such contempt for the nation’s founding principles is a threat to the republic!”
Does this sound extreme? To vindicate these statements, one need only look at the political war being waged in Virginia.
The question of whether the republic will survive seems distant to many Americans, especially as weak Democratic candidates prepare to face a strong President Donald Trump in the battle for 2020. However, the radical left has not disappeared. It is still working actively to undermine the United States Constitution.
In Virginia, Democrats have gained control of the state’s House and Senate—to devastating effect. What they are doing gives a glimpse into their desire to transform the U.S.
Battleground State
Virginia, home to four of the first five presidents, has swung to both ends of the political spectrum throughout its history. Beginning after the Civil War, Virginia consistently supported Democratic presidential candidates. After World War ii, that changed, and the state went through a period of about 50 years where its citizens nearly always backed Republican nominees. Democratic presidents before the Second World War, however, were still conservative by today’s standards. Over all, it is fair to say that Virginia has traditionally held conservative values.
This state has a strong history with religion and the First Amendment. Many Virginian politicians who influenced the framing of the Constitution were Baptists. Their belief in religious freedom had a strong effect on the drafting of the Constitution and helped shape the freedom Americans know today.
However, in 2008, the state’s long history of promoting conservative values ended. Voters supported the most radically left presidential candidate in American history: Sen. Barack Obama. That continued in 2016, when Hillary Clinton received the majority of Virginian votes.
Yet that is nothing compared to the past few months. On Nov. 5, 2019, for the first time since 1994, Democrats took control of both Virginia’s House of Representatives and Senate. Since then, a number of far-left politicians have been proposing and passing some of the most radical laws in the U.S.
Virginia’s transformation exposes the Democrats’ undemocratic agenda for America.
Political Blitzkrieg
“Democratic legislators in Virginia have dramatically reshaped the state in two months, sweeping aside many of the state’s old business-friendly and socially conservative laws and replacing them with a broad, progressive policy agenda,” wrote usa Today. Virginia now has “the South’s strictest gun laws, broadest lgbtq protections, and some of its loosest abortion restrictions.”
High-profile laws have reached Gov. Ralph Northam’s desk daily. Marijuana has now been decriminalized and voter identification requirements done away. How many new laws can be created over a two-month period? 100, 200, perhaps 500? Try over 1,200. Virginia lawmakers passed roughly that amount within two months. According to Virginia’s legislation database, lawmakers have introduced 3,905 laws since November 2019, and this continues to grow. Of those, the House passed 2,240, and 2,213 made it through the Senate. This has already eclipsed the 2019 session, when lawmakers introduced 3,332, passing 1,912 in the House and 1,800 in the Senate.
The Democrats hold 55 seats, while the Republicans have 45. This makes sessions contentious and votes close. Yet it is enough of a margin that the Democrats are able to pass laws at a speed not seen in decades.
Cementing Power
The Democrats are not letting this victory go to waste. Their aim is to hold power in the state for as long as possible.
“I think it’s been a fairly devastating year for people that are in rural Virginia,” Sen. Steve Newman, a Republican who has served in the legislature since the early 1990s, told usa Today. “It’s not just the high-profile items, but it’s just how deep the far left has reached into the code of Virginia.”
One way Democrats are digging in is through gerrymandering. The state’s increasing population will make redistricting necessary in 2021. Redrawing the map could have serious political consequences and even change the outcome of state elections.
Suppose a region contains large numbers of people who tend to vote Republican. Dividing the region up and making each chunk a smaller part of neighboring Democratic regions could reduce Republican votes. The more such regions are broken up, the less likely it becomes for a Republican to be elected to the legislature.
On March 6, Republicans barely managed to pass a bill stripping the Democrats of this power and delegating it to an independent committee instead. It was a showcase of increasing division and tension in the capitol, with a final result of 54 in favor and 46 against. All 45 Republicans voted in favor, along with nine Democrats, while every remaining Democrat voted against it. According to the New York Times, it was “a marked change from last year’s bipartisanship,” when a nearly identical version of the bill was passed with strong support from both parties.
Had the Democrats blocked this bill, they would have been able to redraw the boundaries at will, sealing their power over the state for at least a decade, according to the New York Times. It remains to be seen whether the committee will remain truly independent.
Attack on the Family
Attacking the traditional family is one of the biggest political offensives being pursued by Virginia’s Democrats. The most frequent champion of this agenda has been Governor Northam.
Northam strongly backs the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This bill has been the flagship legislation of the Democrats’ agenda for years and is a major reason why they were overjoyed to gain control of this state. This bill would radically alter America’s moral standards, enshrining abortion within the Constitution as a human right, and ending sex separation in bathrooms, locker rooms, jails and hospitals.
The Constitution states that it can only become law at the federal level when ratified by three fourths, or 38, of U.S. state legislatures. Virginia was the pivotal 38th state. Victory came on January 15, when it was ratified in both houses of Virginia’s legislature. However, the Democrats will have to do more legal contortions to get it passed at the federal level. The amendment has been in progress for decades. It was approved and ready for ratification in 1972; but it had a legal deadline—of 1980. Democrats are looking for ways to reinterpret and ignore that requirement. If they succeed, the amendment will become law throughout the nation, and the changes will be dramatic.
Another reason Governor Northam is well recognized among Democrats is his strong pro-abortion stance. He gained national fame in January 2019 for endorsing Democratic Delegate Kathy Tran’s bill, which proposed removing all restrictions on third-trimester abortions—essentially legalizing infanticide.
“If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen, the infant would be delivered,” the governor stated in a radio interview with Washington, D.C.’s wtop. “The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and mother.” This implied that an infant, already born and breathing, could be killed if the mother so desired.
https://twitter.com/CalebJHull/status/1090657473218920448
The bill would repeal all protections against late-term abortion, which, until recently, was illegal throughout America. There would be no requirement to perform an ultrasound before an abortion. Minors would have a legal right to access abortion services without notifying anyone, even their parents. Abortion would become protected under state law.
Its final adoption by the House cuts the requirement for three consulting physicians to be present. The abortion can be performed if the physician deems the pregnancy likely to “impair the mental or physical health” of the woman. The words “substantially and irremediably” were removed from that sentence during debate in the House. Tran’s bill, promoted by Northam, would allow infants to be killed on a whim.
Much of this has already been accomplished by the Virginia Reproductive Health Protection Act, which Northam signed into law on April 10. It takes away Virginia’s mandatory ultrasound law and removes the mandatory 24-hour waiting period for an abortion.
In past months, the transgender agenda has received attention as well. Delegate Patrick Hope proposed a bill on conversion therapy, to come into force in July. It condemns as illegal any objection that doctors, or other professionals paid by the state, can raise against children who desire to change gender.
The bill defines conversion therapy as “any practice or treatment that seeks to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity, including efforts to … eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same gender.” In plain terms, this bill criminalizes telling a child who identifies as transgender that he or she might want to reconsider. Any attempt to dissuade a homosexual from his or her views would also be penalized. Whoever violates this will lose state funding, and likely his job.
Children of religious parents are another target. Delegate Mark H. Levine introduced a bill in January targeting child placement agencies. These are private businesses or charities that help children who are put up for adoption by seeking to match them with foster parents who share the religion and sexual orientation of their parents. This bill, currently under consideration by the House, would deny funding to any such agency that is found to be “discriminatory.” In other words, if an agency refuses to send a child of heterosexual parents to live with a homosexual couple, it is violating state law and will not receive any help from the government.
“[T]he purpose of the so-called nondiscrimination proposals is not to protect anyone,” said Victoria Cobb, president of the Family Foundation of Virginia, speaking to the Federalist. “It’s to weaponize the government to discriminate against and harass private businesses and faith-based organizations that have deeply held moral or religious beliefs regarding sexuality and marriage.”
Big Government
Marriage and family matters are not the only aspects of Virginians’ lives that Democrats want to control. Vague laws on the subject of online harassment and hate speech also have observers worried.
House Bill 1627 sets out felony charges for anyone threatening to kill or do bodily harm to the governor, his family, a school teacher or a health-care worker. It also includes a vague section on “harassment.” It outlines penalties against “any person” who “with the intent to coerce, intimidate or harass any person, shall use a computer or computer network to communicate obscene, vulgar, profane, lewd, lascivious or indecent language ….” There are no definitions given anywhere in the bill for coercion, harassment or intimidation.
Since no definitions of what constitutes these offenses are given, this vague law comes dangerously close to violating First Amendment rights. Taken to an extreme, anyone who expresses an opinion in disagreement with the state government could be subject to prosecution for a misdemeanor or a felony.
An attack on free speech is also an attack on religion. Virginia Sen. Amanda Chase’s strategic adviser, Philip Search, explained: “If they can pass open-ended laws on what constitutes harassment, then they can also say your freedom to express yourself … your religion, and what you stand for is now considered threatening. That can be any religion that doesn’t agree with the social norm or what the government entity in power dictates.”
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Not only is the government expanding, it is also removing the right of its citizens to defend themselves. Gun control has been a rallying cry for the far left, especially in light of increasing mass shootings. The right to bear arms, protected under the Second Amendment, is under attack. Northam signed a law on April 10 that removed the right of those owning arms to receive due process at the hands of the law. Their arms could be seized from their home at any given time, providing only one vague requirement is met: The citizen is deemed a “threat” by state authorities. There is also a limit of one handgun purchase per month. Predictably, many are outraged at government overreach and some have protested at the State Capitol.
Hijacking the Electoral College
Virginia’s voting autonomy has not escaped the firing line either. House Bill 2422 enters Virginia in an interstate agreement to elect the president based on national popular vote. Its Electoral College votes typically go toward whomever wins the most votes in the state. However, a few states with far-left governors, such as New York and California, mandate that their representative cast their ballot for the winner of the popular vote. Under this role, every person in Virginia could vote Republican, but if a Democrat wins the national vote, then Virginia’s votes won’t count. The state’s delegates would be compelled to vote Democrat.
The real danger lies in how this works as a multi-state conspiracy. “The compact goes into effect when states cumulatively possessing a majority of the electoral votes have joined,” says Virginia’s Legislative Information System. First, they work to achieve a majority; then, providing that a Democrat wins the popular vote in 2020, each elector will have no choice but to vote for that candidate.
Virginia may soon join 16 states that already enforce this. It is a calculated tactic aimed at ensuring support for Democratic candidates when they are expected to win the popular vote. So far, only states with a strong Democratic presence, such as California and New York, rule that their delegates must align with the popular vote. Delegates have no choice but to comply with state law.
Some have raised questions about the legality of the popular vote compact. However, it is too new to have been tested yet in court.
The Democratic party in Virginia is pushing the limits of its power. One law would have allowed children to receive vaccinations without parental knowledge or consent. Public outcry in its wake was so strong, however, that it was withdrawn before the House could vote.
Governor Northam signed 45 bills into law over the course of only two days on April 10 and 11. Many more laws are in progress or already passed, such as those classifying vague “discriminatory” language against same-sex couples as a form of abuse, or allowing convicted felons and the clinically insane to vote—without presenting photo identification. To cap it off, Lee-Jackson Day, recognizing Virginia’s Civil War history and its two famous generals, has been removed from the list of official holidays.
Many of the laws currently being voted on were proposed years ago and went nowhere due to Republican domination at the Capitol. The transformation now underway did not start merely a few months ago. The groundwork was laid over years, even decades. However, the pace at which these votes are happening is noteworthy. It shows how eager the Democrats are to hit back against the success of President Donald Trump. What is happening in Virginia reveals a desire at the heart of their ideology: to fundamentally transform the United States of America.
The Obama Legacy
What is happening in Virginia is a microcosm of what is happening to the nation. The divisive votes, anti-family laws, and pacts aiming to reduce the electoral college to irrelevance are all part of an agenda that the Democrats want to see implemented on a national scale. Virginia is a window into what would have happened to all of America if the Democrats had won in 2016.
Much of what is happening in Virginia stems from the work and influence of former President Barack Obama.
In an address to Democratic donors in November 2019, Obama stated, “This is still a country that is less revolutionary than it is interested in improvement. Even as we push the envelope and we are bold in our vision, we also have to be rooted in reality. The average American doesn’t think we have to completely tear down the system and remake it.”
The former president still believes the U.S. needs to be fundamentally transformed, as he campaigned for in 2008.
Obama had a lot to do with getting Governor Northam elected, openly speaking at some of his rallies. As Virginia is being transformed, it is clear why the former president so strongly endorsed him.
“Now that he is out of office, he tells us what his real goal was and still is,” Mr. Flurry wrote in the March 2020 Trumpet issue. “People need to understand what a dangerous threat this is to the very foundation of this nation!” He further explained that Obama’s deeds are not those of somebody who cares about his country. He is actually fighting against America. For this reason, the Bible says he is acting in the spirit of Antiochus.
Antiochus Epiphanes conquered Judah in the second century b.c. His main goal was to wipe out the Jewish faith and exterminate any memory of it: He desecrated the temple and forced Jews to eat swine’s flesh. Today, the radical left is seeking to wipe out the law of the land and remove Christian values as much as possible. This is what Obama meant when he said the left must “completely tear down the system and remake it.”
The True Source of America’s Greatness
The U.S. Constitution has always stood for Bible-based, Judeo-Christian values. Few other countries have experienced the prolonged internal stability and peace with which America has been blessed, and no single nation has been as powerful. Our free book The United States and Britain in Prophecy, by Herbert W. Armstrong, explains that the U.S. is descended from the tribe of Manasseh, one of the 10 tribes of Israel. The main reason for America’s greatness was God’s promise of racial blessings and power to Abraham.
The Bible’s prophecies truly are for America today. They tell us why America achieved greatness, as well as why it will soon fall.
In Bible prophecy, Israel refers to the United States and Britain. God describes the current political attack against America in the same way He described the attack on Israel in the era of King Jeroboam ii. “For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter: for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel. And the Lord said not that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven: but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash” (2 Kings 14:26-27).
Israel’s enemies wanted to totally destroy the nation, so that not even its memory would remain. Today, political enemies within are doing the same. They attack the Constitution and try to blot out the nation’s history, especially its history with God. This is the spirit of the radical left.
“Satan has been attacking the American superpower—and, as he so often does, he has been doing this through an Antiochus-type—from the inside. The spirit of Antiochus, of trying to ‘blot out the name of Israel,’ is strong in the radical left and in what has become of the Democratic Party!” Mr. Flurry wrote.
Right now, President Trump is gaining greater control of his government. However, the Bible warns that he will not be able to save America. To truly rid the country of the radical left, dissolve insoluble national division, and bring America back to God’s standard of morals and law, a radical solution is necessary. It involves repentance and turning to God’s law.
The division on display will not disappear anytime soon. In fact, leading figures of the radical left are seeking to instigate civil war.
The Bible warns, “A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them” (Ezekiel 5:12). This is about the coming captivity of the United States. It reveals that before military defeat and captivity, America will have been weakened by internal strife. The word translated “pestilence” actually means civil unrest and war. Our free book on Ezekiel explains this verse in depth.
Why is America headed down this path? Why would God allow such suffering?
“Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11). God discusses the death of Israel, or the United States, in many prophecies. The only thing that can save it is repentance—turning to God’s law and government.
The solution to America’s current problems lies not in the government of man, but in the government of God.
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To understand more about the evil spiritual force behind this attack on America, why the present administration is temporarily holding it in check, and how God plans to restore America to greatness permanently, request a free copy of Great Again, by Gerald Flurry.