Democrats at the Crossroads in Virginia

<![CDATA[The story goes, according to legend, that aspirational blues musician Robert Johnson found himself at a crossroads in the Deep South in the 1920s, and traded his soul to the Devil in order to learn how to play guitar.Cross Road Blues was recorded and released twice by Johnson, first in 1932, and then again four years later. I have no idea about the spiritual side of it. If you actually listen to the lyrics to the song, either by Johnson or any of the tons of covers, notably by Eric Clapton and Cream in the 1960s, it's about finding himself in the middle of nowhere late at night in the still-racist Deep South, and having to rely on the graciousness of someone to pull over and give him a ride.90 years later, another Robert Johnson, and the Democratic Party as well, find themselves at a different type of crossroads.Robert L. Johnson, a billionaire entertainment mogul most famous for the creation of BET, Black Entertainment Television, is a Virginian by residence, and has a storied career. He was the press secretary for D.C. Congressional Delegate Walter Fauntroy, the last living co-founder of the Congressional Caucus. Johnson also spent time doing comms for the National Urban League, and he was the public affairs director of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Johnson is a man of the left, and a staunch advocate for Black rights on all sorts of issues.He once called for a national Black political party, and in 2020, called for a $14.7 trillion dollar reparations plan to be approved. Suffice it to say, Johnson is not a rock-ribbed conservative.Being a billionaire, Johnson has been very active in politics, both at the national and state level in the Commonwealth. His fellow Virginian, Terry McAuliffe, partnered with him for a while in the 2000s and 2010s, raising around $900,000 dollars. In McAuliffe's 2013 successful bid for governor, Johnson gave the maximum in personal donations, primary and general election cycle, and worked with the Democratic Governors Association superPAC to help raise another $1.2 million for the Macker.Johnson has raised money for and/or endorsed Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden. But in 2019, he found himself at the political crossroads. He began to look around at the Democratic Party becoming hijacked by the most extreme fringes of their base even then, and began to speak out.]]>