Today's Washington Examiner has an opinion piece by two of the three candidates for governor in Virginia this year. The piece is purely positive and not controversial in the least bit; it simply encourages young people to participate in the political process:
No matter what differences of opinion exist between us about how best to govern our great commonwealth, we agree that all Virginians will benefit when more young voters are drawn into the political fold, when they educate themselves about critical issues, when they take an active role in the ongoing political discourse and when they turn out to vote - not just with their hearts, but also with their minds.
Specifically, the two candidates praise Generation Engage, "a new, non-partisan youth civic engagement initiative that seeks to actively involve young adults in the ongoing political discourse." The piece concludes:
If all young Virginians take a greater role in our democratic process, the future of our commonwealth is in good hands. This is a cause we can all agree on.
Uh oh, wait a minute. Apparently, there IS someone running for governor this year who CAN disagree about increased involvement of young people in politics. Who could that be? Well, here's a hint: it's not the Democrat, Tim Kaine. Here's another: it's not the independent Republican, Russ Potts.
Well, let's see now, who does that leave? Could it be the right-wing Republican, Jerry Kilgore, who doesn't want young people to participate in our democracy? Or, could Kilgore simply not care about dissing young people as long as he can avoid suffering the terrible indignity of signing a completely positive, uplifting letter to a newspaper with his Democratic and independent Republican opponents? Whatever the reason, the newspaper reports that Kilgore "declined to join Potts and Kaine on this op-ed." Great.
The bottom line is that Jerry Kilgore is clearly not the kind of person we want as governor of our state. Unfortunately, it's obvious at this point what Kilgore is: a divider, not a uniter. And now it appears that he's also someone who holds young voters in contempt. No thanks. We can do better.