Dear Editor,
Is Vermont afraid of change?
Patrick Leahy first came to power in 1974; Welch has been in Vermont politics since 1981; our very own Alice Emmons, 1982. I guess we should be happy to have our long-term legislators, they’ve helped us make several national top ten lists! We are ranked the sixth worst place to do business by Forbes, ranked the fourth highest in education costs in the country by www.stacker.com, and we have the third highest tax burden in the nation according to the Tax Foundation. Great accomplishments, right?! More to come, I’m sure!
Thank goodness many of our incumbents believe in strengthening our “democracy” by fighting to eliminate the Electoral College, pesky thing (Constitutional Republic, know the difference)! Speaking of the Constitution, lets talk about Article 22: “Reproductive autonomy” (not abortion) shall not be infringed upon unless it’s best for state interest – what exactly does that mean? Shouldn’t Article 22 read “healthcare freedom,” including all your healthcare decisions not just reproductive autonomy? “Infringed” – seems I’ve read that word somewhere else in the U.S. Constitution. Do you think it will be held to the same authority as in the Second Amendment? Of course, according to Dick McCormack, the Constitution and Federalist Papers are only to be understood by legislators and lawyers not common folk like us, it’s beyond our IQ capacity and it’s “fluid.”
Should I mention ethics? Becca White, the breath of fresh air, who is employed by Efficiency Vermont, whose funding and expenditures are monitored by the legislature. Becca has an open-door policy; I gave her a list of my concerns and she questioned my sources and sent me to her platform – very helpful and “open door” to her constituents.
Alison Clarkson, Senate majority leader. Alison believes that Act 250 has been improved by allowing “urban development improvements” to expand housing opportunities for the flocks coming to Vermont. I mean, who wouldn’t want to move to Vermont and enjoy living in downtown, isn’t that why you’d move here? Of course, this works out very well for the wealthy elite whom don’t wish to bothered by the peasants, save the country estates for them. We must also thank her and the rest for Act 46, which closed your local school to “save money,” good thing we’re only the fourth highest in the nation for education costs now.
Many of you may not have heard from the candidates that would likely do best for our brave little state, not surprising when candidates like Ericka Redic can’t be heard in a debate on WCAX because she’s not a major money, major party candidate. You’d think Liam Madden would fight for her to be heard since he hates the two-party system, right? Becca will go to Washington with our best interests in mind, getting all that out-of-state special interest money! Local stations also help by not letting us become confused – Okemo Valley TV edited the entire public questioning portion of the Ludlow Candidate Forum so we wouldn’t be overwhelmed, how thoughtful!
In all seriousness we do have logical options. Please educate yourselves and please vote, unless of course you already have because you decided your best candidate by the letter beside their name regardless of their history or values.
Sincerely,
Randy Gray
North Springfield, Vt.