Prior to this past week, most people outside of Virginia wouldn’t have been able to identify Ralph Northam, the current governor of that state. He’s now made sure that everyone who pays any attention at all to politics knows who he is. Name recognition, though, is not always a plus.
When a photo surfaced from a yearbook from back in 1984 presumably showing Northam as either the person wearing a KKK robe or in blackface, the alarms went up all around. Republicans pointed to his hypocrisy, recalling his comments and ads about his GOP opponent, whom he labeled a racist. Democrats, horrified that one of their own could possibly be accused of racism, have called for his resignation—not just a few Democrats but a large and swelling chorus, particularly in his own state.
Northam staged a press conference to try to explain that old photo and his views (now he says he’s not sure he was either of those guys in the photo—how could he not remember that?), but by most accounts, he fell flat on his face. He didn’t win any converts with his “explanation.”
Let me be clear (a phrase used rather regularly by Richard Nixon and Barack Obama, but please, don’t put me in that company): racism in any way is anti-biblical, anti-Christian, and downright evil. Yet does anyone really believe Northam is currently a living, breathing KKKer? He’s being castigated for a photo from 35 years ago. Isn’t there any room for growth in one’s views over time?
Yet, I wholeheartedly support his removal from the governor’s office. First, he is a hypocrite of the highest order; second, he seems to be no more than a political hack.
However, there is a deeper reason for his removal, and this is the one Democrats want to avoid talking about: his earlier comments last week about abortion. He actually said that if a third-trimester abortion resulted in a live birth, it would be up to the mother and doctors whether to allow the child to go on living.
What are we talking about here? It’s painfully obvious to all who have eyes to see and ears to hear:
Democrats don’t want the public to come to the stark realization that the party has “evolved” into a party that has no problem with abortion at any time, and that now it has crossed a line into killing children already born.
That’s not hyperbole, given the recent change in New York’s law and the attempt by Democrat legislators in Virginia to introduce a similar law there. What have we come to as a nation?
If people want to know why I can never vote for Democrats, here is the number one reason. Yes, I believe in trying to reach out to those with whom I disagree. Yes, I believe in civility in attempting to argue for what is right. You don’t win people over by shouting and raging against them. Yet truth always must be expressed, and here is that truth: if you promote abortion, you are promoting the murder of innocent children. End of story.
So, Ralph Northam, please step down. I don’t expect you will be followed in office by anyone who believes differently than you do on abortion (the lieutenant governor is also a Democrat), but you have become anathema to most people by now. Your own party wants you out for insensitivity to race and your political opponents want you out for your horrific views on the right to life. Both are valid reasons for you to voluntarily relinquish the office you won with lies.