Behold, the political weaponization of the garter snake… and a window into Virginia politics.
So the garter snake — the itty bitty little garter snake that your lawnmower chops up every spring — is the official snake of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
While we humbly would have submitted other examples for the official state snake (Jonnie Williams comes to mind), Delegate Brenda Pogge sponsored a bill from 11-year old Aiden Coleman. An admirable bill, a worthy bill!
…but the humble garter snake? From the Virginian-Pilot:
When it comes to a state symbol, said Sen. Dick Black, R-Loudoun County, Virginia needed something symbolic of power and aggression, like an eagle. In campaign literature, Black has mentioned his interest in herpetology – the study of reptiles and amphibians.
“This bill proposes that the reptile symbol of Virginia be the lowly and common garter snake,” he said. “The garter snake is small, and it’s very plain looking. There’s nothing tremendously special about its appearance.”
“It’s a very fearful creature. When it’s confronted with danger it immediately runs. It scrambles.”
What!?
“It slithers, if you prefer,” Black said.
Of course, Patrick Wilson is just looking to smack around Dick Black. We get it. But State Senator Don McEachin… really?
Black is one of the most conservative members of the chamber and Sen. Donald McEachin, D-Henrico County, asked if he was “trying to interject partisan politics into our code.”
“This rattlesnake he speaks of – does it look like the snake on the Tea Party label?” McEachin asked.
…or maybe, someone’s opposition to it was an interjection of partisan politics?
One entirely gets the appeal of an 11-year old proposing a state snake and having it sail through the General Assembly. It feels good, it’s an inspired choice (even if my lawnmower slays three or four of them every year by accident). But to Black’s point, my lawnmower has yet to run over a timber rattler…
So why opine on this?
For starters, I have a tough time with a mood on the floor of the State Senate where a contrasting idea over something as small as the state snake inspires that sort of reaction from McEachin. Really? What a small, spiteful thing to do and say.
Moreover, this does speak to this obsession in state legislatures to have a state everything. For instance, Virginia has a state beverage (milk), we have a state insect (monarch butterfly), a state bat (the bat), a state fish (the striped bass), three state songs (don’t ask), a state fossil (Tommy Norment), even a state folk dance (the macarena… check that, square dancing).
Doesn’t this all seem a bit silly?
As for McEachin’s partisan swipe at Black, that speaks to the character of both men. As for the decorum on the floor of the State Senate? Perhaps more than anything else, it just seems a bit disappointing… and as for the rush to name a state everything it just shows a particular sort of spaghetti-string lack of fortitude where only Dick Black (and perhaps five others) had the guts to say this was indeed a silly bill.
Kudos to young Master Coleman for his bill — take nothing away from the young man. But one has to wonder at the lesson he and others might have learned that day concerning our political process. After all, Black would have been treated the same no matter what the issue was. The distinction between the garden snake and say, the budget bill ? At least in terms of actually weighing and debating the merits and demerits — doesn’t seem to see a difference in actual practice in the General Assembly nowadays.
