NEVER EASY TO GO AGAINST THE POLITICAL ESTABLISHMENT AND POPULAR OPINION ON THIS KINDS OF ISSUES:

How your delegated voted on "Moment of Silence" legislation.

Yea vote opposed Jefferson and supported circumvention of Constitution, the easy political vote.

Nay vote supported Jefferson and opposed circumvention of Constitution, a vote that took political courage.

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Listed below as voting NAY are Virginians who believe, as did Jefferson that, Tom Jeff's Statute on Religious Freedom was the most important public act of one of the most celebrated Virginians of all time (although, to be honest, they use a different term in the Hemings household).

In case we have forgotten, Jefferson believed in the separation of Church and State as did those Virginians who wrote the Constitution and were all believers in God.

Indeed, Jeffersonian Conservatism believes in this separation, and furthermore, believes it is probably worse to camouflage what you are doing as opposed to having the courage to say it.

One would have thought, to paraphrase John McCain, we should honor those who have given up so much blood and treasure to preserve our Constitution.

The following individuals voted to keep the Separation of Church and State and defeat Senator Barry's bill which undercuts this separation by requiring what he calls a "moment of silence" which is just a lawyer's way of bending the Constitution to undercut Jefferson's principle.

In the context of Virginia politics, the vote of the following, on the losing side in terms of the legislation, but on the winning side in terms of the Constitution, showed political courage. They could have done the easy political thing, but they didn't.

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03/06/00 House: VOTE: PASSAGE (75-Y 23-N)

YEAS--Abbitt, Armstrong, Barlow, Bennett, Black, Blevins, Bolvin, Broman, Bryant, Byron, Callahan, Cantor, Clement, Councill, Cox, Cranwell, Crittenden, Davis, Day, Deeds, Devolites, Dickinson, Drake, Dudley, Griffith, Hamilton, Hargrove, Harris, Howell, Ingram, Jackson, Joannou, Johnson, Jones, D.C., Jones, S.C., Katzen, Keister, Kilgore, Landes, Larrabee, Louderback, Marshall, May, McClure, McDonnell, McEachin, McQuigg, Melvin, Morgan, Nixon, O'Brien, Orrock, Parrish, Phillips, Pollard, Purkey, Putney, Reid, Robinson, Rollison, Ruff, Rust, Sherwood, Shuler, Spruill, Stump, Suit, Tata, Tate, Thomas, Wagner, Wardrup, Weatherholtz, Williams, Mr. Speaker--75.

NAYS--Albo, Amundson, Bloxom, Brink, Christian, Darner, DeBoer, Diamonstein, Dillard, Grayson, Hall, Hull, Jones, J.C., Moran, Moss, Plum, Rhodes, Scott, Van Landingham, Van Yahres, Ware, Watts, Woodrum--23.

ABSTENTIONS--0.

(Paul Goldman, electronic mail, March 7, 2000).