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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsVirginia will eliminate a state holiday honoring Lee and Jackson, replaced by Election Day holiday
By Scottie Andrew, CNN
Updated 9:30 AM ET, Fri February 7, 2020
(CNN)Virginia is one step closer to ending its tradition of honoring Confederate generals.
This week, the Virginia House voted to strike Lee-Jackson Day from the list of state holidays. The holiday, observed on the Friday before Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in January, honors Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson as "defenders of causes."
Both men owned slaves and fought to preserve slavery in the US.
In its place, the House bill proposed that the state replace it with Election Day, the first Tuesday after the First Monday in November, instead.
<snip>
"We need to make Election Day a holiday," he said in his State of the Commonwealth speech last month. "We can do it by ending the Lee-Jackson holiday that Virginia holds ... It commemorates a lost cause. It's time to move on."
</snip>
wryter2000
(46,082 posts)Good on them
BeckyDem
(8,361 posts)GoCubsGo
(32,095 posts)safeinOhio
(32,727 posts)Grant and Sherman? A couple of winning Generals of the the.
RVN VET71
(2,698 posts)That just might be a step too far!
I like the idea, though. Like it enough to think it would make a great national holiday, both because it would serve to remind folks that victory over evil (slavery, in this case) requires enormous courage and stubbornness from leaders who are willing to stomach -- but not take delight in -- what it costs in human life.
Without Grant and Sherman -- and, of course, Lincoln -- the secession of the rebel states may well have been successful.
The South, it seems, had more than its share of brilliant Generals. The North had the 2 that mattered.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)IronLionZion
(45,541 posts)and we have had a lot of other non-war heroes in our country who may be deserving of some honor. We could have a President Trump fire hydrant in every dog park, for example.
Brother Mythos
(1,442 posts)happybird
(4,634 posts)It used to be Lee/Jackson/King Day.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)I am sure that they used the excuse that King had a federal holiday. But they could have added someone like Rosa Parks to replace King. They just wanted a confederate holiday.
happybird
(4,634 posts)Blue_true
(31,261 posts)Thomas was a Virginian and is believed to have been the most effective Union General. Phillip Sheridan was a key advisor to Grant, they divised the concept of total war that broke the southern army and navy. Sheridan also led the forces that defeated the confederacy in central and western Virginia and into Georgia.
spooky3
(34,483 posts)lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Show up for every single election. Virginia's off-year elections were designed to suppress turnout and entrench GOP power. Guess what? The cure is simple. Show up. Every single time.
DENVERPOPS
(8,847 posts)That several of the Republican Va counties, bordering W VA are trying to withdraw from VA and become part of W VA.......
DENVERPOPS
(8,847 posts)for as long as I can remember, the Republicans hit their voters with a ton of crap to anger them into coming out to vote.
It is always the same: ANTI-GAY, PRO GUNS, PRO GOD propaganda and it works every time. And of course their newest rants on HILLARY and all of her DEMOCRAT SOCIALISTS.........
It works every election........
WASF
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)That strategy totally backfired.
Relatively conservative Manassas had a virulently anti-trans representative. So Danica Roem ran - she's a trans woman. She won!
She's just one of the more dramatic examples.
DENVERPOPS
(8,847 posts)I'll get back to you on November 4th.
I admire your conviction and positive attitude...............
spooky3
(34,483 posts)of the VA electorate. VA is like other states; the cities vote differently from the rural areas. But the urban areas populations are very well educated and growing at a much faster pace.
And, as others mentioned, the state has been badly gerrymandered by Repubs., but that will change with Dems in control in 2020.
Qutzupalotl
(14,334 posts)Its more of an urban/rural divide than anything else.
In cities, you can see your tax dollars at work; theres public transport, street repair, libraries, etc. In rural areas, you dont; so they see government as taking their taxes and not giving them anything in return. We could argue that national defense helps them, and law enforcement helps them, but these are not as visible as public works projects. In most rural areas, law enforcement will not arrive fast enough in an emergency, so they rely on gun ownership for self-defense.
In this light, the D and R labels seem more like a symptom than the cause. I post this mostly to get us thinking of other ways to talk to any remaining rural voters who are not yet subsumed by the cult of Trump.
spooky3
(34,483 posts)y after the First Monday in November, instead." They must have edited it.
Dennis Donovan
(18,770 posts)I corrected it in the OP.
spooky3
(34,483 posts)Ohiogal
(32,091 posts)happening in Virginia under Dem leadership!
I wish we could turn Ohio around like that.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)phylny
(8,389 posts)Now, if my district could only elect a Democratic Congressperson!
We had Bob "Badlatte" for many years. Now, just a better looking version in Ben Cline. Hoping for some help when redistricting is done!
phylny
(8,389 posts)We had Congressman Garrett, who left in disgrace, and now we have Riggleman, who kisses Trump's ass for breakfast.
When we first moved here, we had Tom Perriello, then we were redistricted. It's still a long-shot because of where I live, but it would be great if redistricting gave us a chance at a Democratic Congressperson!
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)dalton99a
(81,599 posts)lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Is that re-using or recycling?
littlemissmartypants
(22,822 posts)lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Wounded Bear
(58,721 posts)and fought against the country whose Constitution they had sworn to defend.
PWPippinesq
(195 posts)Dennis Donovan
(18,770 posts)It should be a national holiday.
PWPippinesq
(195 posts)Too many are unable to vote. Let's make it easier rather than harder. Hmmmm. I must be a Democrat.
crickets
(25,983 posts)Skittles
(153,202 posts)Blue_true
(31,261 posts)Chalco
(1,309 posts)Retrograde
(10,162 posts)to happen in all states.
Having election day be a holiday sounds nice - until you think about the ramifications. A holiday for who? Those in crucial jobs who have to be there no matter what? Those in service jobs who need the money? Those who normally send their kids off to school while they work? IMHO, we need to get over the notion that voting has to occur at one time for everyone in a jurisdiction. Let's follow the California model and spread it over nearly a month.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)I am a little leary of vote by mail, especially in states where republicans have a shot at regaining control. Early voting will be hard for republican legislatures to eliminate, republican voters like early voting also, once it is in it stays.
B Stieg
(2,410 posts)we fought to stop folks like Lee, Jackson and Jefferson Davis.
Slow and steady this ain't...
Nitram
(22,892 posts)majority in both houses. Look for more advances in the months to come.
B Stieg
(2,410 posts)I hope you're right. My broether and sister live in your state!
calimary
(81,512 posts)Nitram
(22,892 posts)inflicted on us for decades by the GOP.
Ohiogal
(32,091 posts)That the VA Dems are getting things back on track! Wish more red states would follow!
Paladin
(28,276 posts)underpants
(182,904 posts)Cincinnati already fully passed such a measure
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/478479-cincinnatis-passes-landmark-renters-choice-bill-that-could-solve
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)This is what happens when VOTERS give Democrats the power.
Rider3
(919 posts)rogue emissary
(3,148 posts)calimary
(81,512 posts)There just isnt anyone else to vote for, as far as Im concerned. Voting republi-CON is simply not a plausible option. Voting republi-CON is so far off the table for me that it isnt even in the same room. Or building.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)ConstanceCee
(314 posts)I live in Virgiinia and worked hard for these elections. I am trying to focus on all the great things that are happening here, to offset the horrors at the national level. It works (some).
pandr32
(11,617 posts)58Sunliner
(4,410 posts)scheming daemons
(25,487 posts)Get Dems in office across the board and great things can start to happen.
struggle4progress
(118,356 posts)marieo1
(1,402 posts)About time for them to wake up!! I hope all states will follow Virginia's lead.
NY06DemSoc
(42 posts)Mopar151
(10,000 posts)Moving "obsolete" local, political holidays "slot" to ELECTION DAY is not a stunt or theater. It's showing proper respect for the history of Democracy!
SunSeeker
(51,726 posts)And what better way to stomp on the legacy of slavery-protecting generals than to celebrate freedom to vote!
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)cp
(6,664 posts)Also wanting it in the other 49, then as a Federal holiday.
pazzyanne
(6,558 posts)Virginia is "growing" by leaps and bounds! Let's hope this becomes a trend in November!
TryLogic
(1,723 posts)Progressive dog
(6,920 posts)well over 100 years. Fighting to keep people in slavery is not something to be celebrated.
dameatball
(7,400 posts)Mopar151
(10,000 posts)Hate the camo -clad drunks, morons, and ment`l defectives who buy a license so`s they can spend late fall half in the bag, in a pickup full of guns and junk . Junk food, junk beer, human scrap.
dameatball
(7,400 posts)upset about eliminating a holiday for a racist traitor.
Mopar151
(10,000 posts)SLOB HUNTER, everyone "in the trade" knows what they are, who they are, and when "slob season" is on. Good hunters avoid slob infested areas.
paleotn
(17,989 posts)Response to Dennis Donovan (Original post)
softydog88 This message was self-deleted by its author.
amuse bouche
(3,657 posts)cry baby
(6,682 posts)Blue_true
(31,261 posts)you are dead WRONG. This would not have been possible had republicans controlled even one branch of government in Virginia.
Another note. Democrats in Virginia are being fucking ruthless in erasing the unamerican laws that republicans put in place, this is what our side NEEDS to learn how to do whenever we gain control of all beaches of government, be relentless in passing laws that wipe away societal inequity.
keithbvadu2
(36,937 posts)Republican business owners can still give their employees a paid holiday for Lee/Jackson.
Call it a company holiday or whatever.
Don't blame the democrats.
hatrack
(59,593 posts)Let everybody vote, lose the traitors.