Adios Governor Ralph Northam

Gov. Ralph Northam (D-VA) was elected in 2016 due in large part by labeling his opponent, Ed Gillespie (R-VA) as a racist and fear monger. And what was the proof of these charges? Well, it turns out that it was based on a political ad by an independent group supporting Mr. Northam showing a pickup truck herding minority children into an alley to do them harm – the pickup truck carried a Gillespie for Governor bumper sticker. But that isn’t all. The political ad ends with the minority child waking up only to discover it was all a dream – a nightmare as labeled by the independent group supporting Mr. Northam. That’s it – a dream without a single fact or reality.

And now Mr. Northam himself is accused of being a racist based on a photograph that appears on Mr. Northam’s medical school yearbook page published thirty-five years ago. The photograph shows two men – one dressed in black face and the other in a hood and robe like those used by the Ku Klux Klan. (I shouldn’t have to tell you this but just in case there is someone reading this column that suffered through a public employee union led education in the Portland Public Schools, the Ku Klux Klan is a violent white supremacist group which has assaulted, raped and killed African Americans throughout America, including Oregon – where “sundown” laws were enforced well into the 60’s despite never having been formally adopted by either the Oregon legislature or its various municipalities.)

Apparently each student is given a “page” in the year book for which (s)he can submit up to three photographs to be included in the “modesty” page. Mysteriously, Mr. Northam’s “page” contains four such photographs.

Mr. Northam is the quintessential liberal/progressive who quakes at the mere mention of racism. As a result, when confronted with the picture he immediately confessed that it was him in the picture and began the mea culpa for racism, real or imagined. When that didn’t quell the demands for his head on a platter of political correctness, Mr. Northam denied that either of the characters in the picture was him and claimed that he did not know how they got in the yearbook. He then blamed conservatives for not having discovered this earlier in his political career – a bizarre excuse for a desperate man.

As a result seemingly everybody in Virginia and most certainly every Democrat running for President (that body count is approaching 50) has demanded that he resign or be impeached. Under the constitution and laws of Virginia, Mr. Northam can only be impeached for acts occurring during his service in office – this picture was taken thirty five years ago when Mr. Northam was in medical school and he was twenty-four or twenty-five years old. The Republicans have acknowledged that there is nothing they can do to impeach him. And thus, the mob has resorted to demanding his resignation because he has “lost the moral authority to lead.” As of the writing of this column, Mr. Northam has refused to resign but in all likelihood he will but for all the wrong reason.

But there is a way to remove Mr. Northam legally – recall him. Under the laws of Virginia a public official can be recalled by obtaining sufficient signatures based on specific charges. A court will then decide the fate of the accused.

It might sound like I am sympathetic to Mr. Northam but I am not. This is one of the best examples of the axiom “live by the sword, die by the sword.” Is Mr. Northam a racist? I doubt it. There is nothing in his life that would suggest otherwise. He has become a victim of the very ideology that he professes – identity politics where facts, good ideas, and faithful service are sacrificed to character assassination.

But I am sorry for the rule of law, the presumption of innocence, and the concept of due process. Increasingly we see the liberal/progressive willing to forego societal rules in order to enforce their imagined outrage. We should be wary of this march toward mob rule.

While all of these phony charges of racism have blanketed the media there is a good reason for Mr. Northam to be recalled. In a television interview Mr. Northam supported infanticide – the killing of a child after it is born. He described a procedure when a child is born despite a botched abortion. In it he approved of a procedure where the child is set aside, made comfortable, resuscitated if necessary and remains there while the mother and doctors decide if it should live or die. The child is viable by virtue of the fact that is now living outside of the womb and unattached by an umbilical cord. There is no longer an argument as presented by the pro-abortion crowd that this is just a mass of protoplasm attached to a woman. If the doctors and the mother agree, the child will be murdered – probably in the same inhumane way that partial birth abortions are performed where a sharp instrument is inserted into the head of the child and its brain is removed through suction. Josef Mengele could not have thought of anything more cruel or painful. The mere fact that Mr. Northam could support such a diabolical act disqualifies him from any form of public service.

So, Mr. Northam, you should go and you should hang your head in shame that you could support any form of infanticide.

But the story doesn’t end there. Should Mr. Northam do the right thing and resign, his successor will be Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax (D-VA) who has recently been accused of sexual assault in 2004. And where is the media firestorm accompanying these allegations? Where is the #MeToo movement demanding justice. Where is Hillary Clinton, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA). All strangely quiet. You see, in a party that is mostly a coalition of single issue advocates who have been co-opted by the Democrat National Committee there is an increasing likelihood that the knee-jerk demands of one group will disadvantage another group. And that is the case here. Mr. Fairfax is an African American and viewed as an up and comer in Democrat circles. Absent physical evidence the #MeToo movement will treat him with kid gloves and so will all of the above-named hypocrites. The identity of Mr. Fairfax’s accuser will be disclosed in short order and absent supporting evidence she will be ridiculed and buried. So much for believing the accuser as demanded by the above-named hypocrites.

So, adios Mr. Northam and don’t let the door hit you in the butt on the way out. And for Mr. Fairfax you will survive as a monument to the hypocrisy of the Democrat Party.