A rally happened in Richmond, Virginia today. Did you hear about it? If you haven’t been living under a rock, or watching one the the leftist media outlets, then you know that Virginia stood up today and drew a line in the dirt. A line behind which every American must rally behind the Virginians and defend at all costs.
Governor Ralph Northam (D) and his newly seated Democratic legislature, expected an event which would include violence, and clashes between police and those who were at the rally. He was so fearful of this happening, that he ordered firearms banned from the capitol grounds, and brought in a major contingent of state and local law enforcement. In the meantime, he had a fence put up to channel those in the crowd into one small area, in order to better control the crowd.
The Governor and his cronies were sorely disappointed afterwards. This crowd didn’t need to be controlled. In fact, this crowd was under so much self-control that NO arrests were made of its participants, no one was injured… the participants even picked up their own trash. Think of the last time you heard of a leftist rally where store windows weren’t smashed, businesses not looted, people and law enforcement not assaulted. And THIS rally had probably 40,000 plus guns as a part of it.
America… if you didn’t know, this event today was quite different. It was also instructive. If you haven’t been paying attention, or you feel like you might not understand fully, let me put it in a way everyone can understand. Even a leftist.
Virginia is leading. Virginians have taken it upon themselves, as they have done so many times in our nation’s history, to stand up, move forward, and say “Follow me.” At every major juncture in our history, when the chips were down, it has always been Virginia and her patriots, who have stood up, grabbed their weapons… and pressed the fight to the enemy.
Right From the Beginning
In the beginning of this nation, when Virginians and the rest of the colonists were all British citizens, it was Virginians such as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison who stepped up and provided the road map, what we now know as our two bedrock documents, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. And even though the Revolutionary War began further to the north, it wasn’t until another Virginian, General George Washington, took hold of the ragtag band of Americans and took the fight to the greatest military that had ever been seen in human history, to that point.
And defeated them.
Around 80+ years later, on a hill outside of Manassas, Virginia, it was General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson who showed up at the First Battle of Manassas (or First Battle of Bull Run, depending on where you are from) with his troops he had just marched in from the Shenandoah Valley. The other confederate troops in the middle of the battle were beginning to fall apart, until they looked up the hill through the smoke and haze, to see General Jackson sitting on his horse beside his troops. The Virginians had arrived. And the rest of the troops understood what that meant, as General Bernard Bee yelled out to his troops “There is Jackson standing like a stone wall. Let us determine to die here, and we will conquer. Rally behind the Virginians!”
Indeed, this would not be the last time Americans would rally behind the Virginians. Later in the war, whether this was a good idea or not can be debated…but General Robert E. Lee (another Virginian) ordered the main charge on the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg. Leading that charge, which if it had succeeded, the war would have likely ended there, was none other than the Virginians. Pickett’s Charge received its name because at the center of the attack were Virginians, led by General George Pickett.
Even though Virginia was decimated in the Civil War, it would be called upon again to lead.
On June 6, 1944, a small town in southwestern Virginia saw it’s father, sons, brothers deposited on a beach in Normandy, France via Higgins boats. These troops, from the famed 29th Infantry Division, were from its 116th Infantry Brigade, which owes its lineage to General Jackson’s unit in the Civil War (which is why it is called the Stonewall Brigade and its unit crest includes the colors of the confederacy). This brigade, made up of national guardsman from the Commonwealth of Virginia, were called to make the initial landing at Omaha Beach.
That small town I spoke of above (Bedford, Virginia) saw its men hit the beach first. June 6th became for the people of Bedford what has been called “The Longest Day.” Nineteen of the Bedford Boys were lost that day, which still holds the highest one day loss, per capita, of any community in the United States. It was because of the sacrifices and leadership of Virginia that the National D-Day Memorial was built in Bedford.
On September 11, 2001, some 60 years later, all of us remember where we were when the towers fell in New York, when the Pentagon was hit, and the plane crashed landed in Pennsylvania. What you may not know is that while the towers were smoldering but still standing, to the east some 4,446 miles in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Virginians were already in their gear and heading out to confront this new enemy of America. How do I know? Because I was there.
The headquarters of the famed 29th Infantry Division was on the ground at Eagle Base in Tuzla that fateful morning. As I watched the second plane hit the tower on a television in the small coffee bar on base, I was awaken from my shock with the sound of soldiers running to gather their gear. America had been attacked, and yet again, Virginia was at war. As the people grieved here in the States and tried to figure out what to do, Virginians had already begun the fight against this new enemy. Bases all over Bosnia emptied as soldiers headed out to round up anyone even remotely associated with Al Qaeda and its ilk.
Today was another seminal moment in American history, where Virginia was called on to lead again. The rally in Richmond against the encroachment of rights, particularly 2nd Amendment rights, by leftists who had been newly elected in the General Assembly, was predictable. Some estimates have between 22,000 and almost 100,000 people at the state capitol during the rally, which easily goes down as one of the largest rallies in Richmond history.
As I said earlier, the left warned of mischief, even armed rebellion, with these “gun nuts” showing up in Richmond. They called it a white supremacist rally or a rally of militias who want to overthrow the government. Nothing could have been further from the truth, and the left are disappointed at the way it actually unfolded.
As of the writing of this article, only one arrest was made (and that was an ANTIFA clown that decided he didn’t want to listen to the police when they told him it was against the law to wear a mask and just take it off). No injuries were reports. No property damage was reported. There are even photos of Virginians picking up trash before they left. In fact, save for the fences that Governor Northam had erected, if you had shown up to Capitol Plaza four hours later, you would be hard pressed to find evidence that a rally even occurred.
Americans in other states face similar problems. States such as the Commonwealth of Kentucky are already following the Virginia model, with Second Amendment (2A) sanctuaries being voted on throughout the commonwealth. Others have done so, or will soon follow.
But I want everyone to understand, particularly Virginians, where we are now. Virginians… you MUST lead. America is counting on you. America has ALWAYS counted on you. You cannot shirk your responsibilities here, you cannot depend on other states and other people to lead. They cannot.
What Now?
What happens now? Virginians, you will have to decide. It is you that will need to stay engaged, as I pointed out in my recent article Now What? What you do now matters. What you do now will decide the whole contest. The path you set, the rest of the nation will follow, as it always has.
Today, every American became a Virginian. The fate of our Republic rests on the decedents and neighbors of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Lee, Jackson, and the Bedford Boys doing what they have always done… leading.
So take your flag and your motto “Sic Semper Tyrannus” and move out. The rest of the nation will follow and rally behind the Virginians.
