"A Stillness at Richmond": The Robert E. Lee Statue Comes Down in Richmond Where "Small" Politics is Big
Guest Post- Jonathan Scott
“A certain combination of incompetence and indifference can cause almost as much suffering as the most acute malevolence.”
― Bruce Catton
“And so that generation was deprived of the one element that is essential to the operation of a free society-the ability to assume, in the absence of good proof to the contrary, that men in public life are generally decent, honorable, and loyal.”
― Bruce Catton, Mr. Lincoln's Army
“Early youth is a baffling time. The present moment is nice but it does not last. Living in it is like waiting in a junction town for the morning limited; the junction may be interesting but some day you will have to leave it and you do not know where the limited will take you. Sooner or later you must move down an unknown road that leads beyond the range of the imagination, and the only certainty is that the trip has to be made. In this respect early youth is exactly like old age; it is a time of waiting before a big trip to an unknown destination. The chief difference is that youth waits for the morning limited and age waits for the night train.”
― Bruce Catton, Waiting for the Morning Train
I sit here on the porch of the farm house this morning over looking the old Springdale Mill in Virginia's beautiful Shenandoah Valley or as I like to call her "Jackson's Valley" just outside Winchester listening to the sounds of morning knowing that as this sun begins to come up today shall be the last day that this sun will shine down upon the ever present statue of Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia.
Sitting here some hours and countless miles away from that dreadful place of institutional mediocrity, I can only feel a sense of sadness. This sadness mind you has little to do with what those in this era would have Virginians believe about Lee or even Thomas Jonathan Jackson aka "Stonewall Jackson" but rather the sadness of a loss of part of our identity. Some 100,000 citizens traveled to Richmond for the dedication of the Lee Monument in Richmond some twenty five years post the war that will create many hallowed grounds throughout Virginia.
"Identity". We hear this word alot. Yet "identity" is simply another word that has been maligned and reconstructed these last few years for nothing more than political fodder. Who we are as a people is not simply what we may believe today or where "progress" may have taken us but rather it is a totality of our experiences that define our identity.
What does it mean to be a "Virginian"?
We still have generations of descendants from the "First Families of Virginia" who in this day are made to feel as though they owe others an apology or descendants of those who wore grey standing in defense of their home and families like Stonewall Jackson who owned no slaves somehow require a "washing" from Virginia history because they do not check of a box on some progressive checklist.
My own story begins some fifty one years ago when I was born to two Yankee parents who relocated to Virginia. I was born to parents who already had seven children none of which were born south of the Mason-Dixon line. Fortunately in the year prior to my arrival my family had moved and settled in the Loudoun County, Virginia area. My parents wanting me to have a "connection" to our families new home sought to create such a connection by giving me a name that would connect me to the fabric of my birthright so thus my Yankee parents named me after two of the greatest and most revered yet totally misunderstood men of all Virginia history in Robert E. Lee and Thomas Jonathan Jackson.
Why would Yankee parents name there son after such men? Why not name me after Grant, McDowell, Burnside, Sherman, Hooker, or even McClellan?
This question is one I have carried with me my entire life. When I say question make no mistake this is not to imply I have ever taken issue with my namesakes rather I have determined my whole life to embrace them. Lee and Jackson are no different to me than the Shenandoah Valley, the Potomac or James River or any of the hundreds of towns that litter the Piedmont, the mountains or the valley floors of Virginia that create the fabric of Virginia. These men like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson or Patrick Henry are part of all Virginians. True Virginians anyway. None of these men were perfect men by any means but then no single leader among us today is even remotely perfect.
“And so that generation was deprived of the one element that is essential to the operation of a free society-the ability to assume, in the absence of good proof to the contrary, that men in public life are generally decent, honorable, and loyal.”
― Bruce Catton, Mr. Lincoln's Army
My parents intent was to provide me as a boy a launching point of the kind of man they hoped that I would become. Values such as honor, integrity, liberty, freedom and service that would ultimately drive me to matriculate at the Virginia Military Institute and then enlist in the military like so many of my generation from my town. The notion that I as a Virginian should feel some level of shame with regard to Virginia's history is probably one of the most insulting things I have ever experienced or witnessed in Virginia politics in my lifetime especially given its coming from a party in Virginia that could not even recognize its own hypocrisy and remove a Governor who participated in the act of wearing "blackface" in my lifetime yet has sought to remove the statue of Robert E. Lee and other leaders of the Civil War. These are not serious people nor do they care at all about true histories of Virginia families let alone preserving anything that is counter to their progressive socio-political agendas. These are the same people who refused to attend the very celebration honoring America's oldest governing body. A body in which many of these individuals actually serve.
In reading much that has been written since the Monument Commission findings regarding the status of Virginia Civil War monuments in Richmond over the last few years one thing is clear. There is and has never been any desire to keep the monuments. The progressives began of course with the end in mind along with Mayor Levar Stoney of Richmond. The progressives sought the removal by any means necessary in protest and even went as far as to silently endorse the desecration of the monuments throughout the entire summer of 2020 while publicly voicing opposition to President Trump's desire to make it federal crime to vandalize statues and monuments. As a result Virginia now must spend some 11 million to clean up or as the progressives say "reimagine" Monument Avenue in Richmond and Governor Northam (D) is seeking 25 million to "clean-up" other Virginia historic sites. Code for removing more history.
Another Democrat led funding grab. Follow the money. Follow the bid process and see who get awarded the contacts. Mayor Stoney of Richmond was found to awarded a donor to his campaign with removal contracts. Of course the political machine was quick to explain away the contract as appropriate but does not change the fact it was a "no bid" contract going directly to a clear donor.
In a period where Virginia is dealing with impacts of Covid-19, rising veteran suicide rates, exploding healthcare costs, declining schools and failing roads and bridges this is where the Democrat focus is in 2021. Shameful.
Keep in kind the last two Democrat Governor's have overseen the complete reversal of Virginia's historic tourism bounty and economic impact as declining tourism rates and visits to places like Richmond and Williamsburg have increased thus impacting local economies tremendously. Virginia is so rich in Civil War history with so many battles fought on Virginia soil but the narrow mindedness of leaders in Richmond could very well put an end to Virginia's dominance on historic tourism as progressives set sights on the Revolutionary period next.
Progressives sat by and cheered as Democrat-funded progressive organizations like Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Antifa wreaked havoc throughout the country in 2020 and turned its focus on Richmond and Monument Avenue in particular. Of course the majority of these protesters whom quickly became rioters/looters in truth left a wake of destruction on a far greater scale across the country and in Richmond than anything that happened on January 6th in Washington D.C. mind you but all was embraced by the media in the name of "social justice" resulting in very few arrests. Meanwhile over 100 U.S. citizens today remain in jail for the events that transpired on January 6 without a peep from the left who claim the high ground of civil rights and still await justice. Ironic is'nt it?
I sit back and rock in the chair thinking just how little has changed in truth in terms of politics over the course of history in Virginia. The only real difference today is the volume of the voices. In large part this has to do with the fact that the majority of the loudest voices come from those not born in Virginia and have little attachment to Virginia in truth. A simple examination of the Virginia General Assembly illustrates this fact. A significant number of elected leaders in Richmond in both the House of Delegates and Virginia Senate not only were not born in Virginia but were not educated in Virginia either. The part this plays in recent actions can not be understated.
“There is a rowdy strain in American life, living close to the surface but running very deep. Like an ape behind a mask, it can display itself suddenly with terrifying effect. It is slack-jawed, with leering eyes and loose wet lips, with heavy feet and ponderous cunning hands; now and then, when something tickles it, it guffaws, and when it is made angry it snarls; and it can be aroused much more easily than it can be quieted”
― Bruce Catton, This Hallowed Ground: A History of the Civil War
Ironic because when you examine the Civil War era you will find that the counties and cities of Loudoun, Fairfax, Arlington, and Alexandria today are very similar politically to 1860 Virginia. These areas after all had a totally different view of politics and government than the counties east of Richmond along the James River or even those counties in the valley and southwest likely because they were so close to Washington. Little has changed as the Washington power structure has grown so to has the population of these counties. What Virginia has in fact witnessed however, is a power shift from the agrarian plantation class of the James River counties that drove Virginia to secede in the first place to the tech driven/consulting/federal government worker class in Northern Virginia counties today. In a sense the net result has not really changed the regionalism in Virginia politics in truth that has always existed. This is not new to Virginia. Its western portions broke away during the Civil War era to form West Virginia and in fact many present day Northern Virginia counties including even Robert E. Lee's home county considered leaving Virginia as well joining West Virginia.
Many worry what will now happen to the historic sites throughout Virginia as this new progressive regime tightens its grips upon Virginia. We already have seen the virtue signaling of place name or school name changes especially in the progressive areas of Virginia. None of this of course has any true value other than that momentary "feel good" feeling that comes with such things that simply is nothing more than political narcissism.
Does a name change of a school educate a single child better? Does it even ever have anything to do with the children? If parents were ever so offended by a name of a particular school why would they have bought a house in that school's district to begin with?
It truly begs the question, does removing the Robert E. Lee monument or renaming any school named after him change anything in truth with regard to educational opportunities, employment opportunities, healthcare, crime or violence etc? Would not the millions of dollars required to remove statues been better served elsewhere like City of Richmond schools? If the true intent behind the removal was to somehow usher in a new era of "equity" and "justice" how does it equate to impacting a single child or family in Virginia in truth? Richmond has some of the worst schools in the entire Commonwealth and yet removing Civil War era statues become the priority over the last year.
I think on my parents who both are now in their nineties still living in Virginia and what they must now think of all that has transpired over the last fifty two years since relocating to Loudoun County from the North. I think about all the good men and women my father served with in state government while serving various Governors in Richmond and all the leaders I met as youth and what many of them would think about the state we find ourselves in today in Virginia. A state where its become acceptable to label people racists for simply desiring to learn more about Virginia history or preserve it in the public square.
You see my fellow Virginians the thing that has been lost on these progressives is they have no real notion of what a "public square" actually represents or should represent in a free society. Its idea of a "public square" is not one of ideas or exchange of ideas rather it has become nothing more than a mechanism to advocate only one side, one view, one message or one narrative. That my friends is not a "public square" grounded in freedom and liberty rather it is one grounded in tyrannical rule. It has become nothing more than an extension of what progressives have done to Virginia college campuses where they endeavor to silence opposing thought and restrict groups from assembly at state funded schools in complete defiance of our laws.
The truth is no one in government today in Richmond on the left opposed the riots and looting of 2020 that brought economic destruction to places like Richmond but would vehemently oppose any rally or march that would have been organized to save the Robert E. Lee monument. These leaders endorse rallies and protests organized by the likes of Black Lives Matter which is now one of the biggest anti-semitic organizations in the country which is rather disturbing given both the top Democratic leaders in the House of Delegates and Virginia Senate are Jewish. Its a simple reality really. This generation of leaders in Richmond are very tribal placing "Party" above not only Virginia but faith as well. This has become the norm. Virginia has seen actions numerous times from Governors Northam and McAuliffe where emergencies were ordered in response to organized rallies they perceived as nothing more than opposing their agendas. The laters response to Charlottesville and Northam's declaration regarding Virginians coming to Richmond for the peaceful annual Second Amendment rallies are easy examples. Many annual events that never represent a threat to society safety or security in the past suddenly were perceived as threat but only to political agendas not the Virginians.
We witnessed this as well in Richmond regarding permits. If your organization wants to host a rally or protest in Richmond and its aligned with the political agenda in place than your permit to assemble will be provided but if you wanted to host a protest against your government or its actions it will not be granted. Does that sound like "equity" of rights to you? Progressives are big on "equity" and "justice" yet work to undermine the rights of a free people to assemble and protest unless of course its is aligned with their core political beliefs. Sounds alike like the "Tories" of old in Virginia history where counter opinion was squashed and often by British force.
In the modern era the "force" used is not armies rather it is two fold. One is the use of political organizations to terrorize citizens and two the use of "political shaming" or the labeling of citizens as "racists". For example, I spoke with an individual who told me how he was called a racist for speaking up at a town hall in support of keeping the monuments by political agitators and harassed all the way to his car outside the meeting where agitators threw things at his vehicle. Not only is this individual married to an African-American but also owns his own business that employs more minorities than it does whites and yet the label "racist" was launched. We can also see this today with the recall all the way out in California where Larry Elders is being label a "the black face of white supremacy". These people are not only very small but extremely small minded. These so called "activists" are filled with a hate in their hearts that does not exist in any person here in Virginia seeking to preserve all of her history.
The removal of the Robert E. Lee monument in Richmond is the culmination of the decade long battle over "identity" undertaken by the Virginia progressive left. A movement so plagued with hypocrisy that it most likely will fail to survive the next decade. After all, a movement that blames and shames "whites" for all things just managed to once again nominate "white men" like former Governor Terry McAuliffe from New York. It could not even nominate a minority candidate let alone one actually from Virginia like State Senator Jennifer McClellan or Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy both from Petersburg, Virginia.
Consider the irony. McClellan bears the name of a Union General that fought to free the slaves and both women were born where many slaves were brought through the rail lines of the depot of Petersburg. With all the noise and all the claims levied against "whites" and in particular "white conservatives"the last few years crafted within the progressive political narratives the Democrat Party of Virginia had three minorities to consider including sitting Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax (D) to nominate for Governor and opted for the "white guy" who earned 62% of the vote.
Opportunity lost.
Just curious though as it begs another question for the progressives. Do they consider all of those Democrat voters who supported former Governor Terry McAuliffe "racists"? I mean after all, if you are "white" and a conservative and vote for a "white guy" the Virginia progressive narrative is that it because of institutional racism right?
In the context of Robert E. Lee, his statute simply became the latest target in undermining the "identity" precept of Virginians reflective of her history. Progressives removing history should not shock anyone. The true basis of all of this is about defeating the "individual" and forcing people into the collective. People like Washington, Jefferson, Henry, Madison, Lee and Jackson must go. The reason is they represent something that progressives oppose. They were divine sparks of things like individualism, self reliance, individual responsibility, liberty, freedom and home rule or self determination all things progressives must destroy in the name of "the state".
Just as my Yankee parents named me after two great Virginians no matter how flawed so that I may have a "connection" to my home and my land that is exactly what the progressive movement seeks to destroy. They do not want Virginians to have any "connection" to Virginia's past let alone those Virginians that formed the very foundation of our entire nation.
The "public square" belongs to all Virginians. Virginians should remind progressives this Fall of that fact. Those that would deny future generations of Virginia history or revise her storied history not only disrespects all those that lived throughout Virginia history but in fact is as shameful as enslavement itself.
If Virginians want their children to be enslaved to a doctrine that would demand individuals relinquish individual freedoms and liberty in the name of "the state" that by all means support progressives at the ballot box this Fall because in truth that is the very fight that Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson fought against the federal government in 1860. Progressives can never get passed "group think" or "collectivism" which is why they always make the absurd claims that every Virginian that wore grey supported, advocated, endorsed or condoned slavery but then why should any of us be surprised given many of these people in Richmond are not even real Virginians anyway.
Did every Democrat support, condone, endorse Governor Ralph Northam's "blackface" simply because they are Democrats? Here in lies the very problem of "group think" and "collectivism". Using the progressive logic every Democrat that did not remove themselves from the Democrat Party is responsible for Northam's action and thus a "racist" just like every Virginian who did not leave the state or fought with Virginia after Virginia joined the Confederacy. After all , it was the Democrats in Richmond who drove Virginia to secession which was a political determination by vote.
Virginians are a strong lot. Our strength lies in our people. Our strength lies in all the experiences in totality our homeland has faced since our original colony. We didn't need statues removed from our "public square" to elevate us or "progress". We did that on our own over the years in truth and have always led from the front until this generation of leadership in Richmond.
Let me remind the uninformed we did not have to remove statues in Richmond to elect the first African American Governor in United States history post Reconstruction in our Commonwealth in 1989 nor did we as a people require removal of and Civil War monuments to provide President Obama Virginia's electoral votes twice.
Progressives should stop demeaning the honor and integrity of Virginians and using history as sword against Virginians who never committed the great sin in the first place. Progressives should tred very carefully our they ultimately may find themselves making the very same political miscalculations as those Democrats in the 1850's-1860's Virginia. Maybe progressives should listen for to the modern day Whigs in the Democrat Party before they manage to destroy they party itself in the decades to come.
Heed this warning---a warming that history provided:
“Sensible men, however, really had very little to do with it. The war itself did not make very much sense, which may have affected the way it was directed. It was being fought because emotion had been evoked to deal with a crisis that called for intelligence. There had been the great argument between men and sections, with many old values endangered, and on each side there had arisen men with blazing eyes and hot hearts to arouse their fellows to imminent peril. Fear had been called forth (because it is thought that men are most surely to be aroused by fear), and then came the anger that goes with fear, and finally the great unreason that goes with both had come out to take control of things—a situation deeply lamented by all who had created it.”
― Bruce Catton, Mr. Lincoln's Army
“The Civil War was ABOUT something. It was fought FOR something. And—let us never for a moment forget it—it WON something....
It was fought for freedom—and if ever anything was worth fighting a war for, freedom was and is the cause. . . .
And that is why the Civil War is worth remembering. It gave us a broader freedom, and it laid upon us the obligation to live up to that freedom and to make it unlimited, for everybody. Freedom is indivisible. Winning it for the Negro, we won it also for all of the people who then were or ever would become Americans—for the man who has fled from oppression, misery and discrimination overseas as well as for the fugitive from the American slave pen and auction block.
