The elections will change the General Assembly of Virginia. This will make some happy and others not so happy. However, for a great number of people, they will be amazed and possibly shocked with the results of the elections.

This year, Virginia was ranked the No. 1 state in which to do business. We will have to wait to see how this will affect those companies that are looking to expand or come to Virginia. My guess is that companies will pause to see how the new majority in both the House and Senate behave in the coming sessions. They will be watching to see if the majority of members will follow the anti-business path that some expounded or if they will modify their thinking now that they have total control of state government. Sometimes, when one has to take the reigns of power, they are less strident than when they are not in leadership roles.

If the Democrats choose to follow the policies which some focused on during the campaign, then you will see great aghast among the people of our part of Virginia. Many good people have thought they had no reason to vote because they have been lulled into believing that either their votes did not matter or that others would do the right thing.

Look at just a few issues that we know the new majorities and the Governor will focus on.

THE ECONOMY

Many of them believe that the reason companies and businesses exist is to provide for their employees when we all know that it is the reverse. People are hired to help the business grow and do better. Therefore, they would have the state setting new requirements for those that hire our neighbors with no regard to the success of that business. Often, they point at companies like Walmart that make billions. However, those that will be harmed the most by new rules for employment, like higher minimum wages set by the state, will be the closing of small businesses in our community that simply do not have the clout to set prices. They will be challenged to survive or hire others. Likewise, young workers will find it harder to find entry level jobs.

Eliminating Virginia’s Right-to-Work Law will drive prospects to states that continue to respect the right of workers to hold jobs without being forced to pay a portion of their wages to a union to have a job. States that have passed laws guaranteeing workers don’t have to join unions, such as Indiana, have experienced great economic success since they unyoked their workforce from this bad government policy.

The Governor and the new majorities appear to be ready to pass new legislation that will drive up the cost of power, expecting you to not understand that misguided government policy will drive electric bills to rise. The same with new regulations on building housing and starting businesses; again knowing that the public will not realize that rising costs are driven by new regulations.

SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS

The Governor and many in the Democrat Party have focused their campaigns on abolishing the Second Amendment to the Constitution. They hide their true intentions by trying to keep the public focused on so called assault rifles and large capacity ammunition clips. However, this is only their first step. When this fails to end the mentally unstable from harming others, they will continue step by step to make all who own firearms for whatever reason into criminals if they do not turn in their firearms.

They shade their contempt on gunowners by saying they have nothing against hunting and hunters, fully knowing that hunting was not the reason for the Second Amendment. Clearly, the patriots who had fought the British army were focused on the need for our communities to protect themselves from those who would take our freedoms away, whether foreign or from within.

These are only a couple of items that the Democrats promised during the election. Their proposals attracted many millions of campaign dollars to Virginia from all over the nations. Are we at the point that the pendulum swings back, or will it get worse?

FRANK RUFF JR. serves as the 15th District senator in Virginia. He can be reached at Sen. Ruff@verizon.net, (434) 374-5129 or P.O. Box 332, Clarksville, VA 23927.