To be a Virginian...
Nov. 16th, 2006 07:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hildy89"To be a Virginian, either by Birth, or Marriage, or Adoption, or even on one's Mother's side, is an introduction to any State in the Union, a Passport to any Foreign Country, and a Benediction from Above..." -- Anonymous
I don't post about politics that often, but this subject hits a little too close to home. The Washington Post ran an article on the growing chasm between Northern Virginia and the rest of the state. After reading it, I find myself torn. I am a Virginian born and bred, born in Fairfax and grew up in Arlington. I am quite proud of that fact. All of the rest of my family were born elsewhere. But I don't talk like a Virginian. Despite the fact that I will never call my father "Daddy" or call the Civil War "War Between the States", I do consider myself a Southerner. I even went to Southern school by choice, hoping to expand my horizons beyond my little corner of Virginia.
I think what bothered me most about the article was the generalizations about both sides of the fence. I have to wonder what conservatives who live in Northern Virginia or actual Democrats who happen to lower than the Rappahannock fault line think of this article. Where does that leave them when they're told they live in the wrong county or the wrong part of the state?
After reading![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
erinpoetchica's post about voting in DC, I scoffed a big "Hell no!" at the suggestion of moving across the Potomac. Why would I want to move somewhere where basically my vote didn't count? At least in Virginia, I could say I voted and I could see tangible results. I might not always agree with the results, but I did try to participate. My other alternative would be Maryland, which is more of a foreign country to me than Southern Virginia is. (Although I couldn't help thinking of the LJ people who said they'd move to Canada after Bush was elected when reading about the Allen supporters wanting to go South Carolina.)
I don't post about politics that often, but this subject hits a little too close to home. The Washington Post ran an article on the growing chasm between Northern Virginia and the rest of the state. After reading it, I find myself torn. I am a Virginian born and bred, born in Fairfax and grew up in Arlington. I am quite proud of that fact. All of the rest of my family were born elsewhere. But I don't talk like a Virginian. Despite the fact that I will never call my father "Daddy" or call the Civil War "War Between the States", I do consider myself a Southerner. I even went to Southern school by choice, hoping to expand my horizons beyond my little corner of Virginia.
I think what bothered me most about the article was the generalizations about both sides of the fence. I have to wonder what conservatives who live in Northern Virginia or actual Democrats who happen to lower than the Rappahannock fault line think of this article. Where does that leave them when they're told they live in the wrong county or the wrong part of the state?
After reading
erinpoetchica's post about voting in DC, I scoffed a big "Hell no!" at the suggestion of moving across the Potomac. Why would I want to move somewhere where basically my vote didn't count? At least in Virginia, I could say I voted and I could see tangible results. I might not always agree with the results, but I did try to participate. My other alternative would be Maryland, which is more of a foreign country to me than Southern Virginia is. (Although I couldn't help thinking of the LJ people who said they'd move to Canada after Bush was elected when reading about the Allen supporters wanting to go South Carolina.)
