Virginians who rode on Culpeper County Republican Committee charter buses participate in part of Wednesday’s Save America Rally, near the Washington Monument. They came from Culpeper, Orange, Fauquier, Louisa, Albemarle, Fredericksburg and the Shenandoah Valley.
The year 2020 has been nothing short of a challenging year from many angles for us all.
COVID-19, regardless of how you feel about it, has created obstacles that not only reshaped our personal lives but created even more division politically between Americans.
The presidential election has motivated grassroots efforts across our country, and more Americans are demanding to have their voices heard more than ever before. This is good.
The election created high emotions on both sides of the aisle and, unfortunately, brought the worst out in many.
Across America, you have seen tempers get the best of people, nasty social-media attacks against our fellow Americans, riots, looting, defiance of law enforcement and breaching our most hallowed grounds of our Capitol. These actions are not American, and especially not what we represent as Republicans.
It is time to put 2020 in the rearview mirror—not to forget, but to learn from. There are many lessons and issues politically we can learn from and debate peacefully.
We are all Americans. Party affiliations shouldn’t divide us to the point where we can no longer agree to disagree. I have always said, politics should not end friendships, that is not what our founding fathers intended with the Constitution.
For me, I will continue to have faith in God, which is the moral fiber of our country, and pray that we as Americans once again can agree to disagree peacefully.
I will continue to say, if you believe in something, stand up for it.
Marshall Keene
Keene chairs the Culpeper County Republican Committee, and is a Culpeper County School Board member.
