Along with Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Massachusetts, Virginia describes itself as a commonwealth. In reality, a commonwealth is no different from a state. But in the English of colonial times, “commonwealth” denoted something along the lines of “a state for the common good”, and had a more revolutionary connotation. The state was for the people, not the people for the state. In some ways, this has been carried through to the present day. In other ways, it has not.  

This week, my colleague here at Heritage Christian Lasval, had the privilage of sitting down with former Virginia legislator Nick Freitas to talk about Virginia, his experience in our current political discourse, and what we can learn from The Mother of States. 

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Email us with thoughts, questions, or suggestions: HeritageExplains@heritage.org 

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Follow Nick Freitas on X: https://x.com/NickJFreitas