Saturday September 21, 7:00PM Theatre in Little Washington, 291 Gay Street, Washington. Rappahannock News in partnership with the Rappahannock Commercial Association have scheduled a forum for County candidates for Board of Supervisors
and more.
Thursday, Sept 25th, 7:00-9:00PM – Marshall Community Center, 4133-A Rectortown Rd, Marshall VA 20115
Fauquier Chamber, in partnership with the Fauquier Farm Bureau, Fauquier Bar Association, Fauquier Now and Fauquier Times, have scheduled a candidate forum for Va House District 18 candidates Laura Galante and Michael Webert, and Fauquier Board of Supervisor
– Marshall District.
There are over two years of reasons to get involved to elect more Democrats in our local, state and national offices…all the way to the POTUS. Contact RCDC Chair Mary-Sherman Willis to see what you can do.
“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”– Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Click the photo to read the list of reasons to help the local, state and national offices go Blue
Marshall, VA (August 4) – In the span of a mere 13 hours this weekend, 29 Americans, including 4 children, were murdered
at a Wal-Mart in El Paso and at an entertainment district in Dayton, Ohio. The El Paso shooting is the 8th deadliest in American history, and the Dayton shooting is the 250th mass
shooting this year. Two other shootings earlier this week, one at a neighborhood Wal-Mart and another at a garlic festival, mean 34 Americans died in mass shootings this week alone.
We mourn and pray for the families who lost loved ones in El Paso, Dayton, Gilroy and Southaven, but we owe these families more than words. Law–abiding gun owners in rural Virginia know
what responsible gun ownership looks like. It’s time our politicians took their responsibility to preserve both public safety and the Second Amendment seriously. We must act now to deal with this scourge at both the state and federal level.
April Moore gets that Virginians need affordable healthcare and control over that happens to their bodies. Mark Obenshain voted to block Medicaid to 400,000 poor Virginians, destroy the Affordable Care Act, and deny a woman’s right to choose what happens to her pregnancy.
In the Library on Tuesday April 23, Meg Heubeck told a crowd of 25 or so, “We need to bring back the political center.” Director of educational outreach at the UVA Center for Politics, Heubeck held a training workshop for constructive conversations across party lines.
Even though animosity has shrunk that center since the mid-1990s, Heubeck said, some 80 percent of us actually still identify somewhere between the extreme right and left. However, the 24-hour news cycle, and our tendency to look for information that confirms what we already think, locks us into a kind of hunter-gatherer political tribalism.
But, said Heubeck, we can train ourselves out of it. “Remember that each of us loves our country, our community, and our families,” she said. And everyone has a voice. “That’s at the core, those American values. That’s what we’re protecting, even in a diverse community.”
The friendly crowd of two dozen participants spanned the political spectrum from conservative to liberal, according to organizer Bob Burney. They broke into small problem-solving groups to test those voices. A simple question—what is the greatest challenge to the future of Rappahannock?—brought a gamut of answers and a prescription for positive citizenship.
First, we need to get to know our neighbors. Ask them about their experiences. Learn how government works. Identify areas of similarity. Be prepared to compromise toward a consensus.
“Bring your brain,” said Heubeck, “and be ready to be nice to people. Then listen with both ears.”
Heubeck praised organizations like the National Institute for Civil Discourse, Unite America, No Labels, and Common Cause for bridging the political divide in America and bolstering its political center. For more information, contact Bob Burney, BurneyRG@me.com.
