WHEN THERE’S AN ACTUAL BRANDON: When ‘Let’s go, Brandon’ is a positive chant.

If you’ve heard of Loudoun County in the past year, you can thank Hamilton, Virginia, resident Brandon Michon.

Rarely mentioned in the national media, other than in surveys of the wealthiest counties in the country, the liberal-leaning Washington, D.C., exurb became the symbol for parents fighting against COVID-19 mandates, school closures, and critical race theory last year.

“I was the lightning rod for that,” said Michon.

It was during the early evening of Jan. 26, 2021, when Michon and his family, dressed in winter coats, stepped in front of the Loudoun County School Board in Ashburn, Virginia, to ask that schools be opened. Duke, then 8 and in third grade, said: “I don’t want to do any more distance learning anymore. I wish I could learn from my teacher without my 2-year-old brother trying to sit with me or touch my keyboard.”

He opened with, “You should all be fired from your day jobs because if your employers knew that you were more inefficient than the DMV, you would be replaced in a heartbeat.”

As he got louder, Michon shouted, “You’re a bunch of cowards and hiding behind our children as an excuse for keeping schools closed.” He ended with four words that have been hashtagged ever since, “Raise the friggin’ bar.”

One man with courage makes a majority.