‘Vexit’ secession offer gets mixed response
MOUNT SOLON, Va. — Like many of his neighbors in this small, rural community in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, Eston Foster believes in the right to bear arms. He grew up with guns, both for recreation and protection, and is a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment.
He wasn’t very happy, then, when Democrats won control of the Virginia House and Senate in November for the first time in more than 20 years, especially since they promised to pass gun control measures that included a ban on assault weapons.
While he hesitates to call himself a Republican, the 23year-old admits to being conservative. He supported his home county declaring itself a Second Amendment “sanctuary” with more than 100 other towns, cities and counties in Virginia. And he’s angry his state Senate recently passed a “red flag” law that would allow authorities to temporarily take away firearms from someone deemed dangerous to themselves or others.
Mr. Foster also took issue with Gov. Ralph Northam declaring a state of emergency ahead of a pro-gun rally in Richmond last month that proceeded without violence.
“I’m afraid they’re going to infringe on my rights,” he said. “They don’t want to see or listen to us little people.”
So when he read on Facebook earlier this month that West Virginia legislators had approved a pair of resolutions that would allow unhappy counties in Virginia to secede to their state, he didn’t laugh it off as a joke. One targets Frederick County and the other invites residents of all Virginia counties to become Mountaineers.
“It’d be a whole lot better than what we got now with those idiots in Richmond,” Mr.
Foster said. “[West Virginia] listens to its citizens.”
So yep, he’d absolutely consider seceding if it ever came to a vote, he said.
The truck driver was relaxing after work with friends at North River Country Store, a sliver of a convenience store tucked inside a former one-room schoolhouse. His buddies, similarly clad in Trump 2020 hats and cotton work jackets, declined to comment, but bobbed their heads in agreement.
“If people don’t want us to have guns, then they shouldn’t come up here to hunt!” a cashier behind the counter declared.
‘Vexit’
West Virginia legislators raised more than a few eyebrows when they made their pitch to Virginia counties last month. West Virginia House of Delegates member Gary Howell, RMineral, says “Vexit,” as the proposition has become known, makes perfect sense for several reasons.
The western part of Virginia has much more in common demographically, socially and politically with West Virginia than those in the eastern half. “Our brothers in Virginia are having their constitution’s rights eroded by Richmond,” he said.
More tax dollars are being shifted to the more urban areas near Washington, taking resources away from rural communities, according to the resolution.
“It’s a natural fit,” said Mr. Howell. He claimed his office has been inundated with email and phone calls from Virginia county officials — and not just those along the state border.
There is a precedent: West Virginia was formed when it seceded from Virginia in 1863 over disagreements about the Civil War and the state constitution. Mr. Howell noted the constitution explicitly permits additional territory to be admitted into and become part of the state with consent of the legislature and a majority of voters.
“We’re a very welcoming state,” said Mr. Howell. “If you move here, we will protect your rights.”
But what do western Virginians think? Have they even heard about the secession plan?
John Stotler, who was having lunch at an Italian restaurant in Winchester, Va., had not. His gut reaction: It could never happen. But if it did, it would only benefit West Virginia, he said, noting its poverty and declining population.
“West Virginia is taking advantage of the [divided] political environment to get resources,” he said.
“That’s crazy!” declared John Rinker Jr., a retired service technician for Washington Gas who was enjoying a beer at Conrad Hoover American Legion Post 21 in Winchester. He supports the Second Amendment, but said Virginians are a whole different breed from West Virginia. “That’s our heritage!”
“You can’t fix what’s not broke, and it’s not broke,” added Lauretta Lockhart, the club’s commander and a fellow Trump supporter. “I really can’t understand why anyone would want to change.”
Ryan Dent also expressed shock at the idea as he pushed his bike along the pedestrian walking mall in Old Town Winchester on his way to a job interview.
“That’s like changing history,” he exclaimed.
Yet he didn’t dismiss it out of hand. Acknowledging the difference in values between east and west, he said he might support the effort if legislators could demonstrate its benefits for citizens with regard to taxes, education and family values.
A recent transplant from Washington, D.C., and registered independent, Mr. Dent said he was more worried about the new government instituting higher taxes than restricting gun rights. “There definitely needs to be a dialogue.”
Seventy miles south in Rockingham County, which voted Republican in the past five presidential elections, Charley Farren admitted he knew nothing about the secession plan. He was having lunch with his 19-year-old son, Jack, and a friend at Billy Jack’s Shack, a favorite haunt of James Madison University students in Harrisonburg.
Years ago, when Virginia was deep red, the FedEx sales rep would have said “No way!” if anyone had suggested a county leave the state. But the registered Republican and lifelong gun owner is worried now that Democrats have made gains in the statehouse.
“I’d definitely consider voting for that if we continue down this road of bad liberalism,” he said. He called Mr. Northam “half crazy” for his views on abortion and gun control. “They’re overreaching.”
His son’s friend, Michael Caminiti, an 18-year-old freshman at James Madison, noted Virginia wasn’t the only state polarized by politics. “I think most of the country is divided.”
Over at Carrier Library, sophomore Max Rouchard, 20, took a more laid-back view of West Virginia’s offer. If you don’t like your state’s politics, well, “you just have to wait out whoever’s in office,” he said.
A libertarian and political science major, the Maryland native doesn’t believe the government should tell you what you can and can’t do. “But you can assume the elected government reflects what the majority wants.”
Texas was one of 12 Confederate states that left the U.S. at the start of the Civil War in 1861, “But look where that got them,” Mr. Rouchard said, noting how the effort was smacked down by the Supreme Court after the Civil War.
Kelsey Gastley, an 18year-old freshman studying dietetics, gave an embarrassed laugh when asked about the measure. “I had no idea,” she said. She’s from Warrenton, Fauquier County, which is still solidly red. While she believes both in gun control and abortion rights, “politics are so big and out of control that I don’t really worry about it.”
A few miles east in the close-knit rural community of Dayton, where chicken feathers from nearby poultry processing dot the landscape and a cup of Folgers coffee sets you back 37 cents at 257 Grocery, it’s more of the same. Cashiers Tanya Kite and Angie Orndorff knew nothing of the West Virginia proposal.
Ms. Orndorff grew up in Rockingham County and considers herself an Independent. She voted for the first time, for Trump, in 2016, but otherwise isn’t into politics. Told the legislation centered on gun rights, she shrugged. Having never owned a gun, she’s never given the Second Amendment much thought.
“But I’m a Virginian all the way, so I’d vote to stay in Virginia,” she said.
Ms. Kite has lived in Dayton for a decade, and loves being in a small town where everybody knows everybody and shares the same conservative values. She can’t imagine seceding. “I don’t agree with them taking away certain rights, but I still want to be a Virginian.”
Abby Arey and Kara Floyd, who were enjoying breakfast with a group of girlfriends at Cranberry’s Grocery & Eatery in Staunton, agreed most Virginians are proud of their state, and would be loath to leave it.
“The two states have a very different culture and mindset,” said Ms. Floyd, who grew up in Augusta County.
The two teachers also worry the move would have an adverse effect on schools. Virginia, Ms. Arey noted, has worked extremely hard to improve education for its children. The West Virginia school system, she said, “isn’t very good, and that’s scary.”
“They’d have to change every map, all the textbooks,” Ms. Floyd added. “The impact would be overwhelming, and what about funding?”
Fade away?
Frank Buckley, a professor at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School who has written on issues including constitutional government, said while the move is constitutionally possible, he can’t imagine it ever happening.
“This runs up against the profound snobbery of Virginia with all things West Virginia,” he said.
Even if a progressive government wanted to get rid of a Republican-leaning county, they’d be punished by voters. “You don’t give away Virginia.”
He guesses the issue will fade away. The Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday voted to postpone a vote on a bill that would ban the sales of some semiautomatic firearms and possession of magazines with more than 12 rounds until 2021. Mr. Buckley wonders if the offer from West Virginia had something to do with it.
“What was proposed went against the grain,” he said. “The tradition in Virginia is neither hot nor cold. We like our politicians to be very middle of the road.”