Cooperative Living January 2019 - 4

Viewpoint | by Richard G. Johnstone Jr., Executive Editor
Vol. 73, No. 2
ISSN 1529-4579
RICHARD G. JOHNSTONE JR.
Executive Editor
BILL SHERROD
Editor
LAURA EMERY
Field Editor
JANET BAILEY
Production Manager
TOMMY CAMPBELL
Design & E-Media Coordinator
AMANDA S. CUNNINGHAM
Advertising Sales
NINA JACOBS
Administrative Coordinator
To contact magazine:
9 a.m.-5 p.m. M-F
Phone: (804) 346-3344
Or at any time:
Fax: (804) 346-3448
Email: bsherrod@vmdaec.com
Web: co-opliving.com
Published by the VA, MD & DE Association
of Electric Cooperatives
HERBERT R. PATRICK
Chairman
FLETCHER B. JONES
Vice Chairman
PATRICIA S. DOREY
Secretary/Treasurer
RICHARD G. JOHNSTONE JR.
President & CEO
Board of Directors: R. Wayne Browning, Belvin Williamson, Jr.,
A&N; C. Michael Sandridge, Michael J. Keyser, BARC; George N.
Goin, Gary E. Wood, Central Virginia; Robert E. Arnold, Michael
I. Wheatley, Choptank; Jeannette S. Everett, Steven A. Harmon,
Community; James E. Huffman, Shawn C. Hildebrand, CraigBotetourt;
Patricia S. Dorey, J. William Andrew, Delaware;
Fletcher B. Jones, John C. Lee, Jr., Mecklenburg; Russell G.
Brown, Greg W. White, Northern Neck; Wade C. House, Stan C.
Feuerberg, Northern Virginia; Dale McNiel, Randell Myers,
Powell Valley; Herbert R. Patrick, Micheal E. Malandro, Prince
George; Linda R. Gray, Kent D. Farmer, Rappahannock; Larry C.
Howdyshell, Michael W. Hastings, Shenandoah Valley; Frank W.
Bacon, Jeffrey S. Edwards, Southside.
To advertise in Cooperative Living, contact:
Amanda Cunningham (804) 290-2184
National Advertising Representative: AMP,
611 South Congress Ave., Suite 504,
Austin, Texas 78704 * 800-626-1181
Member of AMP network of
publications, reaching more than
9 million homes and businesses.
PRESSRUN . . . . . . . . . 529,217
COOPERATIVE LIVING (USPS 473-300) is
published 10 times a year, monthly except for
combined March/April and November/ December
issues, by the Va., Md. & Del. Association of Electric
Cooperatives. POSTMASTER, address changes
should be sent to: Cooperative Living, 4201
Dominion Boulevard, Suite 101, Glen Allen, VA
23060, (804) 346-3344. Periodicals Postage paid at
Glen Allen, VA, and additional mailing offices.
Subscription: $4.99 per year for members of
subscribing co-ops; $10 per year for all others.
ADVERTISING published is accepted on the
premise that the merchandise and services offered
are accurately described and willingly sold to
customers at the advertised price. Neither this
magazine nor the electric cooperatives in Virginia,
Maryland, and Delaware endorses any products or
services advertised herein. If any readers encounter
non-compliance with these standards, they are
asked to inform the Editor.
... George Washington, that is. Father of our country.
Our first and one of our finest presidents. Native of
Virginia's Northern Neck. Little remembered today,
his 1796 Farewell Address contains warnings and
wisdom that still ring true at daybreak of 2019.
n a 32-page letter published near the end of
his second and final term as president,
George Washington offered encouragement
... advice ... and cautionary notes to " friends and
fellow-citizens " of the nation he loved, led and
helped create. He shared his hopes about the
unlimited potential of this new nation ... and his
concerns about some serious pitfalls that littered
our landscape.
In this Farewell Address, he worried about the
divisive influence of political parties ... stressed
the importance of constitutional government ...
encouraged citizens to see themselves first as
Americans, rather than as residents of a state or
region ... and offered numerous warnings about
the perils of long-term alliances with, and special
treatment of, foreign governments. He also
discussed the importance of a balanced budget,
and of sparing future generations from the
burden of debts accumulated by previous ones.
These may seem like quaint concepts in today's
world, where economies are so intertwined, and
people so interconnected. But had our first
president's advice been followed more carefully, few
today would argue against less (or no) national
debt, and less (or no) political partisanship.
President Washington also offered thoughts on
the importance of an informed electorate. Of this,
he wrote the following:
I
" ... It is substantially true that virtue or morality
is a necessary spring of popular government. The
rule indeed extends with more or less force to every
species of free government. Who that is a sincere
friend to it can look with indifference upon
attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?
" Promote, then, as an object of primary
importance, institutions for the general diffusion
of knowledge. In proportion as the structure
of a government gives force to public opinion,
it is essential that public opinion should
be enlightened ... "
Taking heed of President Washington's point
about promoting " institutions for the general
diffusion of knowledge, " we offer within the folds
2
of this month's magazine our annual Virginia
Legislative Guide. We're very proud to have published
this guide now for 30 years, making it one of the
oldest, and we hope most useful, guidebooks
available on the commonwealth's General Assembly.
We hope you'll do more than merely scan the
enclosed guide. We hope you'll keep it, and more
importantly, use it. It contains a wealth of information
on our elected officials, including photos of each
delegate and senator, plus their district and Richmond
office phone numbers, as well as their mail and
email addresses. There are also summaries of
Virginia's three branches of government: legislative,
executive and judicial.
As high schoolers know (but we adults often
forget), Virginia's legislature is the Western
Hemisphere's oldest democratic body in continuous
existence. Despite long centuries of practice, though,
the General Assembly functions best when the
commonwealth's citizens are involved and invested
in the decisions that are being made on their behalf.
For additional information about the General
Assembly, go online to the legislature's website,
virginiageneralassembly.gov; to the Virginia Public
Access Project site, vpap.org; or to the website of
the electric cooperative association that publishes
Cooperative Living magazine, vmdaec.com.
The 140 citizen-legislators who constitute the
100-member House of Delegates and the 40-member
Senate of Virginia convene at noon on Wednesday,
Jan. 9, to begin considering thousands of proposed
changes to the commonwealth's laws, including
bills that may impact your community, your
profession, or your electric cooperative. As a
concerned citizen, and as a member-consumer of an
electric cooperative, we hope you'll stay in touch with
the issues ... and with your elected representatives.
In one short sentence nestled among the many
long passages in his Farewell Address, President
Washington summarized the importance of citizen
involvement in the political process: " The execution
of these maxims belongs to your representatives; but
it is necessary that public opinion should cooperate. "
Still true, 223 years later. 
co-opliving.com
Wise Words
from Washington ...
http://www.co-opliving.com http://www.virginiageneralassembly.gov http://www.vpap.org http://www.vmdaec.com http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living January 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cooperative Living January 2019
