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For some of us, we like things to make sense. Being consistent is important in pursuit of that. When the same person sees a problem when one group does something and does not when others do similar things is a great example.

I pointed that out in a recent column about Gov. Ralph Northam pushing for the Commonwealth of Virginia to become the marketer of marijuana. Here is a man that has been trained in medicine. Who, while in the legislature, voted consistently against the smoking of tobacco and is now encouraging Virginia to change the laws about a different type of smoke. His motivation appears to be purely for tax revenue.

Likewise, he was quite outspoken on his acceptance of abortion, even to the point that many consider it infanticide. He went on a radio talk show proclaiming that delivering a baby prior to deciding if the baby should be allowed to live is acceptable. Now he has taken the position that we should do away with the death penalty for the most vile criminals. Forget that the death penalty is rarely used. One need only look at the federal execution of the Richmond drug dealer who murdered seven people just to prove he was the “baddest” gangster in the area. Our governor would allow an innocent child to die while protecting the life of the vilest criminal that could end up killing others in prison, guards or inmates.

The mayor of Richmond is equally inconsistent. After months of nightly rampaging rioters that destroyed private and public property with no serious effort to stop them, he now sees evil in possible riots. He announced this week that he would never allow the destruction of property by rioters. What was the difference before, other than an election and a few months? Easy, he disagrees with those who might come to Richmond in protest of the change of leadership in the White House.

Not to be outdone, mayors and governors from around the country want to show how inconsistent they are also.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has cost the city many restaurants and their employees their livelihood for much of 2020. Now, however, with COVID-19 more rampant than it had been last year, she just announced that the mandate must end if restaurants are to survive. Now she’s saying that restaurants know how to operate safely. The mayor seems to have forgotten that it was her mandate that forced the devastating closures. Only one thing is different, a different president. In New York, Gov. Mario Cuomo is now saying virtually the same thing, we must open up. While I agree with him and Mayor Lightfoot, it was he and she that forced businesses to close. A new president results in different decrees.

In the world of the news media, their coverage of rioting is a similar example. All the mainstream media defined the riots in many major cities as “mostly peaceful” while millions and millions of dollars went up in smoke. Private businesses were looted and destroyed. Public property was vandalized and set on fire. One CNN television reporter made the claim of mostly peaceful demonstrations while in the background viewers could see flaming buildings behind him.

Those same news outlets quickly claimed that there were no Antifa or BLM activists involved in the horrible attack on our nation’s capital. That was repeated frequently before any investigations were completed. Yet, in the news now, at least one Antifa leader from Utah has been identified and arrested. He had not been the slightest bit shy about going on social media and claiming quite graphically how little he thinks of our Capitol. It will be interesting to see the coverage of him in the media.

Before the elections, they stressed the need for fair and open elections, now they want to censure anyone interesting in seeing proof that the elections were indeed fair.

Meanwhile, in Richmond

Things are quickly ramping up in the 2021 Session.  Because bills must go through the committee process, there is little to report yet.  There are, however, far more bad bills that have been introduced than in past sessions.  We will be following them and giving you my perspective.  Rest assured that the bad bills of 2020 were a precursor to those this year.

Frank Ruff Jr. represents Charlotte in the state Senate. His email address is Sen.Ruff@verizon.net.