A couple of weeks ago, on a cold sleepy weekday, my wife and I drove to Richmond to attend a rally at the state capitol protesting President Trump’s massive output of executive orders intended to vastly expand the power of the presidency.We went out of a sense of duty and with the expectation that so few people would be showing up that each and every body would be important. We arrived to be greeted by 250 boisterous protesters.
Having worked in Richmond only a few blocks from the capitol building for 40 years, I know that getting 250 people to turn out for an event there is remarkable. Large advocacy organizations with statewide membership in the thousands rarely get that kind of attendance, even for the most pressing issues. It felt like the beginning of something big.
On Monday of this week, I attended a rally at the courthouse in Mathews County. About 60 people showed up, a large number for this small rural county. Another group showed up in Richmond, this time numbering 400. And o...