A call for secession and the ‘anti-family Marxist culture’ – WV lawmakers get peculiar
By Matthew Young, RealWV
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -The West Virginia Legislature had what can only be described as a peculiar week this week. Beginning on Sunday, lawmakers held their November Interim Session. And fittingly with an agenda seemingly filled with more field trips than meetings, this month’s legislative-gathering was held at the Pipestem Resort State Park in Summers County.
Despite the current funding crises surrounding the SNAP program, and regardless of the fact that the majority of West Virginia’s elected representatives were under one roof, Gov. Patrick Morrisey did not call for a Special Session to address the issue. While the governor has left the option available for a possible future date, after touring both Lake Mountain Manor and Southern Regional Jail on Tuesday, legislators went home until, at least for the moment, December 7.
Tuesday also marked Election Day in many states throughout the nation. And while West Virginia did not participate this year, Mountaineer-eyes watched closely as Democrats recorded significant victories in every contested state, most notably in Virginia where the blue team took control of the Governor’s Mansion, and flipped 13 seats in the legislature.
On Wednesday, in response to the “blue wave” which swept over the Mountain State’s neighbor to the east, West Virginia Sen. Chris Rose, R-Monongalia, released a statement announcing that he had “introduced a Resolution inviting Virginia and Maryland counties to join the Mountain State.” Rose referred to this resolution as “An Appeal to Heaven.”
“Today, WV State Senator Chris Rose introduced a Senate Resolution inviting 27 counties from Virginia and three from Maryland to consider joining West Virginia, aiming to strengthen regional ties and promote shared Appalachian values,” the statement read.
On its face, Rose’s proposal would appear to be nothing more than “fan service” to Republicans from all three states who are displeased with the results of Tuesday’s elections. The odds of a county successfully seceding from its home state in the modern era are astronomically low. The legal-gymnastics of such a secession would be effectively insurmountable, and that is to say nothing about the costs which would be incurred by both the former and future-home states – a cost that Rose makes no accounting for in his resolution.
A similar proposal was made by former Senate President Craig Blair shortly after the 2020 elections. In that year, the intended counties were exclusively within Maryland. And as is likely with Rose’s resolution, Blair’s proposal ultimately went nowhere.
“This resolution is about empowering communities to choose governance that truly reflects their values and needs,” Rose noted, seeming to imply that should a geographical region contained within the United States become dissatisfied with its current government, that region can simply secede and become independent of that government. History, however, would not seem to support Rose’s implication.
Adding to the peculiarity of Rose’s resolution is the lack of clarity as to whom he “introduced” it. Senate Resolutions are only eligible for introduction to the State Senate when the State Senate is in Regular Session or Special Session, which it clearly was not on Wednesday. As Rose is presumably aware of the eligibility requirements of Senate Resolutions, it would appear that his claims of “introducing” said resolution were made solely for the benefit of Republican voters who may not share that same level of awareness.
For members of the state’s House of Delegates, the peculiarity went a step further. On Monday, Wayne County’s Republican Delegate Henry Dillon took to social media to say, “I have been accused of proposing a ‘Republican incubater,’” although “incubator” was spelled incorrectly.
The allegation, it would seem, stems from Dillon’s participation in what he called a “legislative roundtable” at a Wayne County Board of Education meeting. As explained by Dillion in his social media post, board members reportedly stated that the school district’s enrollment had decreased as the result of low birth rates within the county.
“My ‘controversial’ question?” Dillon added. “What classes currently offered (such as Home Economics) are preparing girls during adolescence with the skills to be a mother?”
“Motherhood and fatherhood are gifts from God,” Dillon’s post continues. “If parents are going to trust the schools with their kids for 8-10 hours per day for 13 years, somewhere in those years of schooling they should probably learn how household economics work, and that raising a family is a noble and necessary part of society.”
It should be noted that, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average West Virginia public school student spends 6.87 hours per day at school.
To conclude his post, Dillon added, “Sorry Dems. The anti-family Marxist culture of materialism causes many more problems than low enrollment.”
In response to Dillon’s participation in the Wayne County Board of Education meeting, Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, also took to social media.
Through a “Reel” posted to Facebook, Young said, “WV GOP Lawmaker went to a county Board of Education meeting and asked: ‘Do we still have Home Economics to encourage girls to have babies? What impression of motherhood do girls get in the school system?’ Then (he) talked about how schools should reinforce the importance of raising a family with a husband.”
“Delegate Henry Dillon said all of this and had two State Senators with him,” Young added, though not naming the senators. “They directly vote on what happens in schools. Is this what you want taught in schools?”
At the time of writing, the federal government shutdown is now into its 37th day, making it the longest government shutdown in the nation’s history. And while Gov. Patrick Morrisey has pledged state money to match up to $13 million in food pantry-funding as a stop-gap to off-set the loss of SNAP benefits; only $300,000 has been raised thus far through private donations.
The legislature will return to Charleston on December 7 for their next scheduled Interim Session.
