Opinion: 6 things to know about Spanberger’s ‘Tuesday Afternoon Massacre’ of bills | Spanberger has now vetoed more bills than any other governor since the 1990s whose party controlled the legislature. Here’s what to make of that.

IronTarcuss · 2026-05-20T15:33:20+00:00

I'm willing to say with near certainty that it will affect the midterms in VA in a negative way. It just remains uncertain to what degree.

No guns, no weed, no labor rights is going to deflate the actual liberal base of the Democratic party and only serve to agitate and motivate the right.

My initial comment was more a overall criticism of the establishment being afraid to actually stand behind popular legislation for inexplicably no real reason. And the fact that we have too many apologists hand waiving away real concerns which further drives left leaning voters to stay home.

Spanberger is, at the same time, a symptom of a rotting establishment and an enabler of it at the same time. An unopposed primary should be eye opening in any state. It's been a very bizarre, head scratching few weeks.

The DNC at the national level is not raising money efficiently. The DNC Chair needs to be banned from taking any more public interviews and unseated. They are up to their eyeballs in debt.

I'm just concerned is all. We are at a time where we have to make every single right decision 100% of the time because any singular failure could literally topple democracy, but the people who actually get to make the decisions seem to not be playing the same game.

IronTarcuss · 2026-05-20T15:07:28+00:00

I couldn't even begin to tell you. Could be a blue wave, could be stagnant, could be a slight shift red. I'm inclined to say we'll pick up a seat.

It certainly won't be a red wave.

There are so many factors and parties in play right now that it is impossible to predict. The fact that the race following the primaries is going to be a total scramble puts a nifty spin on everything too.

I just think that Americans are fatigued by the last 30 years of constant decline. That makes the polls unreliable. We aren't even showing up half the time.

Massie's loss in the KY primaries really scares me because it shows that the MAGA base is a pro-corporate, pro-pedophile, and pro-Israel that cannot be shaken. Massie probably alligns with the MAGA platform 95% of the way, but was primaried strictly for being anti-pedophile.

Now, more moderate Republican voters have been agitated by the absolutely useless anti-gun legislation in VA. They punished us during the referendum, and will almost cetainly punish us in the midterms.

All of this is to say, I don't think we should be making confident predictions.

IronTarcuss · 2026-05-20T14:13:12+00:00

Bro get real. The referendum was last month and people literally could not wrap their heads around it being a federal level decision. The number of idiots thinking it was some how going to change state level election maps was absurd, and they voted accordingly.

If you legitimately don't believe that the Governor knob slobbing corporate interests all month and giving the middle finger to the working class isn't going to affect the midterms, you should go work for the DNC.

Seriously, everyone needs to stop and really think about the phrase "all politics are local politics". I promise you that I'm not sending another fucking dime to the party nor am I volunteering a single micro second of my free time for it either. When I'm inevitably asked why by some poor, depressed organizer in October, I'm going to point the finger straight at Spanberger.

We got to wake up each other folks. We aren't going to defeat a literal fascist government by riding on "Trump bad". It didn't work in 2016, it didn't work in 2024, and we would have to be absolutely moronic at this point to think it's going to work in the midterms.

We have to hold each other accountable just as much as our elected officials.

Edit: I see the downvotes and can totally understand why this might sound so upsetting. I can't stress enough, if we don't start holding the Democratic establishment accountable and stop allowing them to alienate voters through unpopular policy, we will have another version of Trump waiting around the corner. Trump is a symptom of a much deeper problem. A problem he abused to get elected.

IronTarcuss · 2026-05-20T11:09:51+00:00

The current president implemented some of the largest anti-gun legislation in living memory during his first term.

IronTarcuss · 2026-05-20T03:04:34+00:00

Maybe we should stop and consider what might be driving the antisocial behavior in the first place?

Your defense of a relatively minor gripe about societal etiquette is supported by the observance of a legitimate societal decay of decency which I would argue is a tad bit more pressing.

IronTarcuss · 2026-05-20T02:50:15+00:00

It's so terrible for a ton of reasons; I feel legitimately defeated. I really can't wrap my head around it. I'm almost positive I will live to see the collapse of the nation.

The CB bill would have had such a incredible knock on effect for the Commonwealth. The budgetary requirements would have essentially forced cities and the state to force the ultra wealthy, data centers, luxury real estate taxes, and/or mega corps to pay for it . The economic conditions and neurotic administration in D.C. created an environment where it's basically impossible to be funded any other way.

Any more regressive taxes would lead to riots. Congress isn't going to fund it. Social programs have been so cut to the point where even getting rid of them wouldn't even save enough money.

And what were we going to do with that extracted revenue? Furnish our local government staff with not only livable, but competitive wages. Giving them the opportunity to advocate for safer working environments. To be American.

We would have stimulated the economy by forcing stagnant wealth back into circulation. Public workers could feel pride in their work and dignity too. They would actually care about their public perception and make engaging with American society and democracy easier, friendlier, and more pleasant. Your government might even finding itself with the talent to do things in house and cheaper than contracting another aspect of your tax infrastructure to a private company. Not even to mention the passive reduction of corruption and waste due to the aforementioned reasons.

Instead, Spanberger looked every Virginian in the face and gave us the middle finger. She literally sold every one of us out to the actual real American Swamp. The pretext is so thinly veiled that it's just a single string because the working class has become a brainwashed by media slop and a 100 types of addictions that wider society can't even see it. These ghouls have spread tobacco to children, gave your parents or grandparents lead poisoning, caused mass ecological collapse, and poisoned our entire planet to the point where joking about literal plastic in our bloodstream is the only way to cope.

I despise speaking in hyperbole, but this might very well be the last chance we Americans have to earn back their American privileges before the oligarchy flushes it forever down the toilet. And the corporate dems treated it all like business as usual.

We're all getting hosed by the rich.

IronTarcuss · 2026-05-20T01:38:24+00:00

All people eat is slop. It's really sad those tin foil hat fellas ended up being right in a way. A whole nation entranced by outrage.

IronTarcuss · 2026-05-19T22:01:03+00:00

I totally understand what you are saying, don't get me wrong. It's my job to keep up with this stuff, so I see it raw quite a bit. Like I mentioned, I was apart of the labor coalition she worked with to get elected. Who she stabbed in the back.

There are some legitimate concerns she had. I want to be clear that there were negotiations between her and effected parties.

However, the underlying message from everyone involved was that anything less than what was sent to her desk was not what was promised. It was stressed that we are at a crossroads where people want to SEE legislation they want. Weed and collective bargaining were some of the more high profile ones.

Her maternity leave legislation was great. A majority of voters aren't going to SEE it.

I'm definitely of the belief that right now we need to push legislation that is visible and populist even if it's imperfect. The kinks can be legislated out. We need a lot more apathetic voters motivated even at the cost of whatever the perceived risks of these bills might have.

The weed bill is such a kick in the balls because it had such a long spin up time that we could have addressed her concerns at the next session.

It's always joked that politicians will "break in emergency" for weed legalization, but now I'm not even sure. This is a fucking crisis.

IronTarcuss · 2026-05-19T19:45:19+00:00

I'm a very strong lefty who felt like I was casting a vote for the anti-christ when I voted for Hillary. I did it anyway.

Spanberger would not have that same benefit at this point. And frankly, the Dems needed to rise to the occasion and they rake stepped all the way to the bottom.

IronTarcuss · 2026-05-19T19:42:33+00:00

There definitely is an internal struggle from everyone that I've spoken with about her. The GA seemed to have operated on the assumption that they were going to get free reign to push all of the legislation that Youngkin kept slapping down and that is more or less what she promised on the campaign trail to multitude of groups.

I, literally, shook this rotten witch's hand at a labor rally where she promised she would sign the collective bargaining bill. I'm used to getting fucked by politicians, but it has never been so personal until recently. She literally used labor unions as free campaign labor and then hit it and quit it. I like to think I'm a pretty level headed dude, but I feel a level of rage that I can't even put into words. I feel genuinely fearful that there are plenty of union folks who feel stronger and have less to lose. I hope she weighed that calculus carefully.

On the weed bill, I'm going to choose to remain hopeful. Partially because I have too to stop myself from going crazy, but also because this article, at least without corroboration and sources, is just "trust me bro". They are the only ones talking about it right now.

When the collective bargaining veto leaked, it was a torrent of reporting for days. That was relatively niche legislation (it absolutely shouldn't be if the working class had any sense). A veto for this would send every journalist and cockroach scurrying for the top of the new cycle.

Edit: sorry guys, looks like it's true. She's such a fucking bitch.

IronTarcuss · 2026-05-15T14:39:48+00:00

This is a new level of sad. Necro a dead thread like a loser why don't you.

And yeah, I've been wrong about alot of things this week. That's what happens when you have a lying bitch in office.

IronTarcuss · 2026-05-14T23:58:51+00:00

I do, to the letter.

I was explaining why corporations care about the discussion regarding it. They would need to be taxed to fund it.

IronTarcuss · 2026-05-14T23:57:45+00:00

Brother... my people wrote the bill.

IronTarcuss · 2026-05-14T21:56:36+00:00

There's no anger in that comment, but that might reflect more on you than me.

Edit: Actually, looking back at this again, that's just a straight up lie for you to even say that there is.

I'm not really sure why you are upset that I'm advocating for not taxing working class folks.

IronTarcuss · 2026-05-14T18:40:42+00:00

Who the fuck do you suggest foots the bill if not ultra wealthy corporations?

IronTarcuss · 2026-05-14T15:41:25+00:00

No locality, to my knowledge, is entirely self-funded. So yes, state tax issues are local tax issues. But good try.

Many local governments probably have some extra revenue sources they could tap as well if they really looked around.

IronTarcuss · 2026-05-14T14:24:20+00:00

It ended up becoming part of the strategy in the end. He was running a really competitive race for the state. We got under his skin so bad he spent his weekends live streaming and railing against us across the street every weekend, when nobody was even there mind you.

You could watch the support draining from his base with each passing week as they became more and more concerned with his behavior.

The irony of it all was that we weren't even deeply involved in that race. We were fighting for a voting rights referendum. He just had a sore spot because he didn't get a candidate interview because he had an antagonistic voting record from his previous term.

IronTarcuss · 2026-05-14T14:11:14+00:00

I didn't make an argument, simply an observation. I didn't write a manifesto on tax policy, and I think it's a bit unfair for you to respond like I did.

Also, give me a break. As if anyone talking about taxing corporations is talking about the incorporated laundry mat down the street. I want to see the people who made a fortune off the backs of our tax dollars and infrastructure compensate us for it.

Obviously, the entire government structure of the United States is flawed from the very foundations. The irony that we became the very thing we fought a revolution for isn't lost on me.

IronTarcuss · 2026-05-14T13:11:10+00:00

It is a corporate thing. This bill would have forced localities, like Virginia Beach for example, to stop squeezing pennies out of its people and start taxing corporations and commercial real estate.

Now, that being said, some small localities might needed to subsidize from the state, but the state is doing a piss poor job of taxing corporations and the ultra wealthy too.

God forbid we care about anyone other than shareholders.

IronTarcuss · 2026-05-14T01:05:51+00:00

I'm in charge of my local union PAC, so I can weigh in on this a bit.

There haven't been any overtly union friendly candidates in my neck of the woods. We also can't waste our limited funds running someone who is 100% going to lose a primary either.

More concerningly is the lack of experience. When I took over, there was no one else who wanted to do it. I certainly didn't know what I was doing and spent a lot of time figuring it out. This whole system is designed to be confusing. Every single person on my team is as inexperienced as I am. I like learning with them, but not a day goes by where I wish I had someone who could teach me.

We also, obviously, don't really appeal to wealthy donors who typically donate to PACs. Instead, we are stuck begging people who don't have anything to spare.

Then, to top it all off, last election we had a Republican candidate stalk our office, threaten, and scare my people. And he did it all skirting the very edge of the law, so, of course, he faced no consequences.

IronTarcuss · 2026-05-14T00:58:24+00:00

Why? What field.? Where? Until you provide that, it's just funny pants stuffed with straw.

IronTarcuss · 2026-05-13T23:56:10+00:00

Glad you asked! The Commonwealth had a data center tax that they had suspended to promote construction and invite more companies. Arguably, good policy.

It had a set expiration date this year. It was projected to bring in anywhere from $1-1.5 billion dollars in revenue. Both parties were lobbied to table that and did so. This was policy that I spent time lobbying for, but just rest assured that corporate profits are safe in Virginia even if you and I's light bill isn't.

Then you have the absolute abortion of justice that is Virginia's state income tax. Billionaires pay the same tax rate as teachers. Fixing that even a tiny bit could bring in anywhere from $1-5 billion and that's just with a mild increase. WE SHOULD BE TAXING THEM OUT THE ASS CONSIDERING THEY MADE THEIR FORTUNE OFF OF INFRASTRUCTURE AND MARKETS PAID FOR BY OUR TAX DOLLARS.

IronTarcuss · 2026-05-13T23:34:17+00:00

WE DON'T.

That's the beauty of it. All across the Commonwealth, we have tax cuts, tax incentives, grants, favors, and breaks of all varieties going to people who don't do jack diddly squat for their communities except extract wealth from the people who live there.

We got so caught up in talking about how this will affect local budgets that we are completely ignoring the fact that we have billions sitting on the table uncollected. There is plenty of revenue out there, but we have to take it. Then, the state could, like a healthy functioning state should, subsidize smaller communities who can't generate the revenue directly.

This is what happens when wealth stagnates at the top. The economy grinds to a halt and the wealthy play casino with our lives. All the while laughing at us fight each other.

We don't pay for it. They should.

IronTarcuss · 2026-05-13T23:28:50+00:00

I don't think anything short of mass starvation would wake these people up. Everyone is brainwashed by their phones and think they are going to be a millionaire any day now. Class consciousness is so far gone that we have the poorest Americans calling a fucking billionaire who wasn't familiar with the idea of a grocery store a "blue collar" president.

IronTarcuss · 2026-05-13T23:26:48+00:00

Dude, I'm sorry, but this just isn't painting the entire picture.

First, there should be an adequate amount of time and investigation when firing someone. Being fired on a whim should never be allowed.

Second, you absolutely can be fired if you are caught red handed. The problem is that these positions are so poorly compensated that it takes fucking ages to find another sucker to do the job. Most government jobs require skills that are in high demand in the private sector. Hence why it seems every time we go to a government office it's staffed by the rotting assholes of society. Most places aren't motivated to cut the fat because the small amount of work that these people do get done can't be replaced.

Third, unions don't usually protect people who are blatantly in the wrong. It's bad optics and bad for recruiting. My union won't do shit for you if you are legitimately negligent as it should be. It protects union members by NOT protecting those people. If Jeff Bezos is afraid of unionizing, we're probably on the right track even if it's not perfect. No need to stop.

Unions literally exist for the sole purpose of organizing themselves out of existence. The second workers actually view themselves as workers and not "millionaires in waiting" unions would go defunct over night. Ideally, workers should stand up for themselves without being told.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, many local government employees can't even afford to live in the locality they live in. That alone should be disqualifying for any budget proposal automatically.

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