Why (Perhaps) Virginia is (No Longer) for Me

Since I moved to Northern Virginia from the Empire State in 1981, I've seen the Commonwealth pleasantly trend moderate and become ever more progressive. Thus, I stayed. But after almost 30 years, a confluence of recent political events has made me question continuing my residency.
First, there is the gun policy coming out of Richmond. "Home" is not where I am compelled to tote around a firearm to "feel" safe, an ominous portent of which may be the recent shootings on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I have no desire to live in the Wild Wild East! And I'm from New York...
And then there's Ken Cuccinelli, whose opposition to the recent federal health care legislation, questioning of the EPA's determination that the emission of greenhouse gases poses a threat to public welfare, and challenge to the finalization of that agency's new national fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks, makes me wonder if his actions as an "Almost" foretell aspirations beyond "Governor" to perhaps ruler of his own breakaway republic. For those students of history remaining, Virginia's own Founding Father James Madison railed against the retention of any semblance of state sovereignty in a national government as destructive. Another President famously said "a house divided against itself cannot stand." Yet Bob McDonnell insensitively revived "Confederate History Month" as a misplaced tourist and electoral lure. As we approach the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War, not only Virginians, but citizens all along the Eastern Seaboard might want to revisit Lincoln's words and reflect on the blood shed in this country over previous extreme divisive positions. State moniker aside, the "Commonwealth Theory," is not embodied in our Constitution.
Barack Obama, in lifting the moratorium on oil drilling off Virginia's politically contentious shores, is being obsequious to rogue Republicans within this "battleground" state, pandering to its potential swing voters in the hopes of prevailing in the upcoming mid term elections, and transparently attempting to barter for Senate votes to achieve passage of a climate control bill. But where's the logic in so doing, when the Italian rapscallion will just mount an opposition to that legislation as well? History shows that appeasement has never been effective with respect to radicals. The name Neville Chamberlain comes to mind. The President's "offerings" will never satisfy those who crave power and attention, will never be enough to put a halt to the uncivil defiance, and may in fact antagonize and fester more vitriolic opposition than there would have been if the invectives had just been ignored. My advice to Democrats is to adopt a Pavlovian Theory of Politics for now, and not reinforce Virginia's "bad behavior." After all, according to the Laws of Attraction, what is focused on expands. Just follow that crooner philospher Bing Crosby and "accentuate the positive" instead.
On a personal note, I am deeply embarrassed by the machinations of a fellow paisan. In terms of the causes he chooses to champion, Cuccinelli is no Eliot Spitzer or Andrew Cuomo (who I attended Albany Law School with). And Mr. Governor, although I am not a descendant of slaves, your apology is not accepted. Maybe it's time to move somewhere less imperial. I want to live in the United States. Which is why perhaps "Virginia is (no longer) for (me)."

Karen Ann DeLuca