South of the James

By Mike Harton

So Bill O’Reilly is being lauded as the savior of Christmas, and while awaiting the victory, some are boycotting retailers who don’t use the correct code words in their advertising. As my wife says of all the electronic “humor” floating in cyberspace, some folks just have too much time on their hands! Seems every year about this time, some folks get exercised about what we call the season. Some non-believers want any derivative of Christ (Christ-mas) excised, provoking a passionate response from their counterparts to “save Christmas.”

A sampling of the letters published in Saturday’s Richmond Times-Dispatch reveals the passion on one hand, and some logical reasoning on the other. One writer laments that story of Baby Jesus is being attacked, claiming that merchants are trying to steal Christmas. Another, however, avers that merchants, business and government are not the keepers of religious holiday traditions. With the latter I must agree.

Does the decision of some merchants to substitute “holiday” for “Christmas” signal the increased secularization of our culture? Perhaps. Or does it represent growing sensitivity to the increased religious diversity of America? Perhaps. The Achilles heel of a constitutionally free country is the plurality and diversity it attracts and protects.

What strikes me is the ever present assumption of many who gladly wear the label “Christian” that they are charged with defending God, and that, indeed, they must do God’s work for him. They are driven by a mission to attack culture rather than transform it. Disney, Halloween, and more recently Harry Potter, have been objects of their wrath (and boycotts) as though each threatened to undo all that Christianity stands for.

By now we should realize that Christian ideals cannot be legislated or forced (be it school prayer or putting Christ back into Christmas). In fact, such efforts generally have the opposite effect. It would probably surprise some of these folks to learn that the early Puritans, the “ultra-religious” in this country, refused to celebrate Christmas at all, viewing it as un-Christian. My hunch is that were they to see how Christmas is “celebrated” (commercialized) today they would affirm their refusal!

One religious ethicist observes that “[Christian protesters] are not saying they want stores to really focus on Jesus this year, they’re saying, ‘No, we want stores to continue to exploit the Christian faith and use the birth of Jesus to sell things…One of the oddities of this whole debate is that here you have these folks defending the commercialization of Christmas.’”

I would aver that the modern celebration has little connection to the Christ for most people, who give little thought to the meaning of the word (just as Halloween has little connection in our minds to “All Hallows Eve”). It’s a break in the season, an opportunity to be with family and to celebrate something.

Speaking of the linguistic meanings, I wonder how many of those insisting on consistent use of “Christmas” instead of “Holiday” are equally as insistent on living the meaning of their religious label Christian (meaning Christ-like). Saving the hot air and using the energy instead to care for those who can’t afford Christmas, visiting the sick, feeding the hungry and sheltering the homeless would demonstrate both the meaning of the label and the true meaning of Christmas.

What we call a holiday is not going to change a heart, or transform a culture. Life-style and actions - modeling, if you will - have much more of an effect. And, by the way, while Christians argue their linguistic cause, many other religious traditions are witnessing to their faith by showing care to those who need it. The same letter writer who thinks Baby Jesus is under attack correctly states her right, “As an American, I have the freedom to celebrate Christmas in the tradition of the Christian religion….” Amen! But nobody has claimed otherwise! Why is she threatened by a store using “holiday” instead of Christmas?

I’ll call it Christmas, my neighbor (and fellow shopper) can call it what he likes. Words won’t change a mind—or a heart. I agree with the Times-Dispatch writer who said, “The travesty is not so much the deletion of Christ from promotions as what we do in His name. If He were still there, I bet would turn over in His grave.” Well said.

Mike Harton is a contributing writer for South of the James. An ordained minister and educator, he is currently an administrator for a Lilly Endowment grant to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and he edits a CBF e-magazine. Mike currently serves as Vice President of the Task Force for Responsible Growth.

by Conaway Haskins

This post originally appeared on the ThinkSouth.org blog on December 19, 2005.

Virginia’s out-going governor – and emerging 2008 Democratic presidential candidate - Mark Warner has once again stirred up trouble for Virginia Republicans. With his record-high approval ratings and the Commonwealth’s GOP still smarting from the November victory of Warner’s heir-apparent, Gov-elect Tim Kaine, the Governor inserted a gay rights provision into his final budget barring discrimination by state agencies in hiring and promotion on the basis of sexual orientation. This action set off another round of heartburn for Republicans, who control both houses of the General Assembly. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

“Warner’s tactics on this hot-button issue are unconventional. Rather than seek a separate law that could be easily bottled up, he is including the safeguards in an omnibus spending measure — larded with programs prized by legislators that supersedes other state laws.”

With the Gov-elect Kaine confirming his intention to sign executive orders codifying these protections, reactions from Republican leaders have been mixed. Warner and Kaine are appealing to economic development interests as part of their justification for such laws, and the state’s leading gay rights group, Equality Virginia notes that the GOP House Speaker is among the majority of state legislators who have previously supported such measures.

“The administration, anticipating a possible fight over the proposed protections, privately informed Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, about the provision before Warner rolled out the budget Friday. One knowledgeable source said that Howell told the governor he would not lead a pitched battle against the ban. Howell is among 84 Republican and Democratic legislators who signed a pledge with Equality Virginia, a gay-rights lobbying organization that pressed Warner for the ban, to prohibit discrimination in their offices. According to Equality Virginia, 14 of 19 Fortune 500 companies in Virginia have workplace protections against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. At least eight of the state’s largest private employers have sexual-orientation protections in their nondiscrimination policies.”

If the provision holds, it could signal a shift in the politics of gay rights in Virginia, a cradle of Christian conservatism and home to giants of the Right, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.

This post is a first for South of the James. In response to a recent column from an anonymous blogger, the Chairman of the Chesterfield County Republican Committee to take issue with the publication of that blogger’s work. With his permission, Mr. Miller’s email message and the subsequent reply are posted.

You know, permitting political types to publish anonymously removes from them the necessity to back up publicly the assertions they make. To those of us inside the party, it is pretty obvious who wrote this piece in defense of Republicans permitting Democrat Ed Barber to unduly influence the BoS actions and attempts to stifle opposing testimony. Beyond this, I find it a disservice to Cong. Forbes to include him in this, probably without his knowledge. He has done a fine job and we are proud of him, but to use his accomplishments to support more questionable activities is a stretch of logical limits.

The real reason for not wanting to be tagged with writing this piece is that when people join the committee, they agree to support only Republicans. I believe you are doing a disservice to the people of the county by permitting such unaccountable publication. You can be assured that if you get anything from me, it will be signed by me. Please think about this as you move forward.

Larry Miller
Chairman
Chesterfield County Republican Committee

————-
Mr. Miller,

Thanks for expressing your concerns. I understand your issues with anonymity for bloggers, but this is a vital function of the medium. When possible, I encourage all of my writers to publish under their own names, but in certain instances (and at their request), writing under cover of a pseudonym is called for. The reason that I allow a free flow of comments on the blog is just for what you’ve stated - to rebut opinions or analysis that one feels are lacking or untrue. Thus, I ask your permission to post your message - unabridged - as a retort.

Though it may sound a bit overblown, I’d hearken back to the Federalist Papers, in which Madison, Hamilton & Jay published under the name “Publius.” Often, what they were offering to was not truth, per se, but their opinions, reasoning, and logic behind supporting their version of the fledgling American Republic. In no way does South of the James equal the Federalist Papers, but the blogging & new media community as a whole does indeed parallel this phenomenon - citizens expressing their views and being subjected to the judgment of the public.
Again, I truly appreciate your take on that post, and I look forward to having you submit something to me which will be published just as you wrote it, subject only to proofreading.

Best wishes,
Conaway Haskins

Motherhood, Apple Pie & Democrats?
by Conaway Haskins

This was originally posted on the ThinkSouth.org blog on December 12, 2005.

Today’s Richmond Times-Dispatch profiles attempts by three highly-touted 2008 presidential candidates – Mark Warner, John Edwards, & Tom Vilsack – to appeal to broad American audiences ahead of the election. Speaking at a Florida Democratic even over the weekend, each man - two Southerners and one Midwesterner – offered up their take on a new notion of “national community” to inspire Americans to seek common ground with one another.

“There is a hunger in America, a hunger for a sense of national community, a hunger for something big and important and inspirational that they all can be involved in,” said Edwards, the party’s 2004 vice presidential nominee. “Americans don’t want to believe that they are out there on an island all alone,” the former North Carolina senator said.

Each held up his own life as an example of the greatness that can be achieved in America, and waxed about restoring the sense of hope to the American electorate. It appears that their tact is to imbue their candidacies with a new sense of optimism that plays against the conventional Democratic model, thus staking out ground against presumptive front-runner, Sen. Hillary Clinton. It will be interesting to see if, and how, this message will resonate with voters, especially those who lean Republican. If they can reach beyond the Democratic base, then the men just may turn the “national community” blue in 2008.

By Wayne Ozmore

With the dust-up over the Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission public hearing policies, the real deal regarding Chesterfield’s progress on development matters has been eclipsed. This is especially troubling because the county has an incredible opportunity to push the envelope even further as the Watkins Centre zoning case goes forward. However, I am optimistic that the leadership team that we’ve assembled here in Chesterfield will be fully capable of righting the PR ship and getting back to doing the people’s work.

As it stands now, Chesterfield’s Board of Supervisors has the best working nucleus that we have ever seen. In particular, three of the men on the board - Ed Barber, Kelly Miller, and Dickie King - have put their hearts and souls into their positions. They are not in the game for themselves, but for the best interests as a community. They often put partisanship aside and vote for what’s right - not what’s politically expedient. Despite being committed Republicans, King and Miller that voted to put Barber, a Democrat, in as Chairman for one main reason: Barber keeps his word.

Being a die-hard Republican, I don’t often support Democrats, but even I have to I acknowledge that the team of King, Miller, and Barber have formed the best BOS core for Chesterfield in recent memory. Still, given that it was the votes of two Republicans that put Barber in that Chairmanship, this is essentially a Republican team with Democrats helping to advance a common agenda. This is one of the biggest secrets in Virginia economic development as their story remains untold. The way I see it, all of us should be proud of the cooperation displayed by our elected Republican officials (and one Democrat) at all levels of government in the 4th Congressional District. The fruits of their teamwork are showing!

It is humbling to know that due to the work of Congressman Randy Forbes and the state and local office holders, over 7,600 new jobs will come to Chesterfield and the Tri-Cities region. Forbes worked long and hard on the House Armed Services Committee to ensure that 7,000 new jobs will be added to Fort Lee through the BRAC process. In the aftermath of the Pentagon announcements, Democrats and Republicans alike have overwhelmingly praised Congressman Forbes for his diligence that turned the base from potentially being closed or scaled back to actually expanding in operations and personnel.

On the state and local level, our elected officials have worked hard to increase commercial development in the county, particularly with the Virginia Information Technology Agency bill and the Meadowville Technology Park project. Delegate Sam Nixon (R-27th) introduced the VITA bill in the legislature, which will bring approximately 631 high-paying, high-tech jobs to Chesterfield at the Northrup Grumman VA Enterprise Solutions Center that will be located at the Meadowville Technology Tract. Jack Wilson - Bermuda District Planning Commissioner, former GOP 4th CD chairman, and a partner with major Richmond law firm Hunton & Williams - represented Northrup Grumman in their successful bid for the VITA contract process. Credit must also be given to Senator John Watkins (R-10th) and the county’s economic development office, headed at that time by Jim Dunn who is now heading up the Meadowville project. In a nutshell, Dickie, Kelly, and Ed formed the nucleus to make the dream of Meadowville a successful reality, and Jack sealed the deal.

This project is the biggest economic development deal in Chesterfield’s history, and it reflects a leadership philosophy of shared credit that works for the betterment of us all. Those of us in the GOP know that Barber has represented Chesterfield well in his tenure as chair, but it’s the Republican members of the BOS team shore up this County and make it prosper. This commercial development will go a long way in helping us get the local tax base to the 70% to 30% residential/commercial split that we strongly desire. Once Watkins Centre opens, this goal will be furthered even greater. The end result is that this serious economic development will help keep our property taxes lower as commercial development devours hardly any additional services.

Chesterfield is on the rise due to the diligence of the current Board of Supervisors, the core of which is two Republicans and one Democrat. This is an example of bipartisanship working for the community at its best, and it is simply a wonderful, shining example to the Commonwealth on how to work together for the betterment of a region. While I am not involved in the policy end, I do work on the political end, and my philosophy is that great policy makes for good politics. Based on this principle, everything else takes care of itself. The political & policy model that we have employed in the 4th Congressional District reaches into all areas, at all levels of government, for the betterment of all of our citizens. It is humbling to now see the results. In my mind, there is no better example of political cooperation for the people’s benefit in Virginia.