OPINION:
The mad march toward socialism has already begun in New York and Virginia.
Lawmakers in the Old Dominion are filing bills for the 2026 session that kicks off in January. These early offerings provide a glimpse at the ideas likely to become law when Democrat Abigail Spanberger moves into the governor’s mansion next year.
With no restraint on its legislative excess, the General Assembly will advance measures such as those introduced by Sen. Mamie E. Locke, Hampton Democrat. Her state constitutional amendment would automatically grant the franchise to felons on the day they are released from the big house, regardless of the severity of their crime.
She also wants the “mentally incompetent” to participate in elections. They would be able to vote for Democrats without leaving the asylum after her amendment erases every qualification except “capacity to understand the act of voting.”
Virginia Democrats consider voting to be a fundamental right that shall not be abridged by law, but they lack the same affection for rights spelled out in the Constitution. The Second Amendment applies to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment and says “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
State Sen. Jennifer Carroll Foy, Woodbridge Democrat, can’t wait to start infringing with her vaguely worded scheme authorizing the state attorney general, the same one who wished death upon the children of his political opponent, to sue gun sellers and gunmakers whenever someone does something bad with a firearm. That’s likely to happen more often as this party throws open the doors of the nuthouse.
Outgoing Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, had to break out the veto pen on 42 occasions to block the kooky anti-gun bills that made their way to his desk during his tenure.
Defeated legislation included an “assault weapon” ban so draconian that it would have outlawed the most popular pistols because they were capable of holding more than the arbitrary number that Democrats selected. Their bills also required showing a photo ID during all gun purchases, and reasonably so. It’s just funny how liberals stop pretending such provisions are racist when they impose them in another context.
In the Empire State, businesses can look forward to paying more to the local taxman. Recognizing the electorate’s Marxist mood, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul abandoned any thought of countering the zany plans of Zohran Mamdani, the incoming New York mayor who campaigned on a “tax the rich” platform.
Politico reports that Ms. Hochul is entertaining a 4% hike in the statewide corporate tax to assist Mr. Mamdani in redistributing the Big Apple’s wealth. At a nose bleed rate of 11.5%, it won’t take long for corporations based in New York to realize they will find a better deal in any of the other 50 states.
As she prepares for her upcoming reelection, Ms. Hochul dropped the pretense that she might serve as a moderating force in Albany. Instead, she recently met with the mayor-elect to plot ways to undermine the White House’s immigration enforcement efforts, earning points with the base as a resistance figure.
Meanwhile, Florida is conducting a Second Amendment sales tax holiday through the end of the year, suspending collection of the 6% duty on purchases of guns, ammunition and accessories. That’s the sort of thing a well-run state can do when it has extra revenue and respect for its citizens.
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