THE NEXT GENERATION VS THE GERITOL CROWD

The need for the Next Generation Commission was framed by Governor Douglas at a recent press conference: "Vermont's demographic trends should be a concern for us all. We have the oldest citizenry in the country, we have the lowest birth rate, we have the highest percentage of high school students going to college out of state ironically while we have the highest number of colleges based on our population, and we do not have the immigration numbers as other states do to overcome these trends." That Vermont is the whitest state in the country confirms the lack of immigration.

MR. DOUGLAS' NEIGHBORHOOD

Jim and Dorothy Douglas' story, aka the Governor and First Lady, tells the tale better than the Next Generation Commission. They have been open about their children, speaking with pride of their travels through Middlebury Schools, their baseball exploits, legion ball, off to college, and then just off. They wished for a different outcome, where their children and then perhaps their grandchildren might be in Mr. Douglas' neighborhood.

The governor has mentioned how one son could not find employment in his field in Vermont, moved instead to the nation's fastest growing state, Arizona. The governor spoke of a recent call from his son discussing his new home and its property taxes. On hearing the low amount for property taxes, Douglas asked, "It that per month?" And the obvious answer came back, no Dad that is per year. Asked if either of his children were about to return to Vermont, he answered, "Nope."

COLOR, DASH, AND SPLASH VS MORE WILDERNESS

The Next Generation Commission charge should have been, oh wow, how did we get this way and what can we do about it. Instead of thinking outside the box, the legislature and the governor put them in a box at the get-go.

The Next Generation Commission was thus doomed from the start. It was asked to ensure that postsecondary education was accessible and affordable using such tools as loan forgiveness, how to strategically invest in Vermont's postsecondary education system, and to find funding to do all this.

THE ECONOMIC MODEL OF THE AGING

The more obvious answer to how we got this way is that our chosen economic model just does not work. The Next Generation wants opportunity, excitement and affordable living. Vermont does not offer any of these three. Older Vermonters want peace and quiet, more wilderness, more open space, fewer trucks, and less industry. Vermont does offer this.

The ruling elite wish to control development, allowing most anybody to become a party to a hearing, having a slow, tedious, and expensive permit process. The world has changed. Think of all the large capitalized companies that did not even exist a few years ago. Think of all the large companies of a few years ago that have just disappeared. There is globalization, and it moves at warp speed. Vermont does not. Two to four years to obtain permits does not cut the mustard in today's world. Neither does one to two years. Markets change, products change, consumer desires and habits change, faster and faster.

Kids want what they see on television or in the movies: cell phones, broadband, wireless, instant messaging, text messaging, color, dash, and splash. This is not part of the Vermont economic model.

THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH

The United Nations has recently published "Livestock's Long Shadow," a scientific treatise on "human induced greenhouse gas emissions." The media's man-self-hating-man reporter did not call this study to our attention.

According to the report, livestock accounts for "nine percent of all human induced carbon dioxide emissions, thirty-five to forty percent of all methane emissions, sixty-five percent of all nitrous oxide emissions, and fully sixty-six percent of all ammonia emissions."

These gases help trap heat in the atmosphere, contributing mightily to global warming. The report concludes that "cattle-rearing generates more global warming greenhouse gases, as measured in CO2 equivalent, than transportation,"

Senate pro tem Peter Shumlin, D-Windham, says that he will focus the legislature on global warming and climate change. Vermont's footprint is so huge. Following the lead of Mayor Bloomberg of New York City who banned all trans-fats from his five boroughs, we expect that Shumlin will introduce legislation requiring us all to become vegetarians so that we can lower all these emissions and do our part to reduce global warming.

ANOTHER INCONVENIENT TRUTH

The Economist magazine reminded us that even buying organic hurts. "Farming is inherently bad for the environment: since humans took up farming 11,000 years ago, the result has been deforestation on a massive scale. Organic methods, which rely on crop rotation, manure, and compost in place of commercial fertilizer, are far less intensive than commercial agriculture. Producing the world's current output organically would require several times as much land as is currently cultivated."

Hunting and gathering is the wave of the future. About 6,000,000,000 people will have to be removed from the Earth, however. Any volunteers?

POLITICS 102

If you run, you will win. If you stand, you will lose. Randy Brock chose to stand. He lost by 102 votes out of 223,378. His campaign team could not get him out on the campaign trail. It took all their energy just to get him to travel around with Jim Douglas a bit. He preferred traveling to Florida. He will now have years to travel.

His press release stated: "This has been the zenith of my professional career, and the opportunity to have served the state which has given my family and I so much, was a genuine honor." If he had returned the honor, respected the electorate, and made an effort, he would serve two more years. And maybe more.

Many would say that he may have been the best auditor the state has ever had. He immediately transformed the office from a political hack and hit squad under his two Democrat processors to a professional team. The Democrat team in twelve tries never once submitted the audit of state government within the legal framework, 0 for 12. Brock of course was 2 for 2, on time.

Governor Douglas said at his press conference, "I hope that Secretary of State Deb Markowitz works to develop accurate and secure ballots and voting materials in the future." Was that a former secretary of state zinging the current secretary of state?

AIKEN ADVISES BERNIE

The Times Argus this weekend re-ran an interview that Senator-elect Bernie Sanders had with Senator George Aiken in 1973. Bernie asks Aiken, "There has been some discussion about... large Vermont industries selling out to out-of-state corporations?"

Aiken replied, "It is something that we cannot stop. It is a worldwide situation. When you cannot stop it, you have got to guide it. If you are standing on the track and see a train coming, you can do one of two things. You can stand still and get run over, or you can hop aboard and try to control it."

Do you think Bernie is listening?

WHAT'S IN A HAIRDO?

How do you know if people are running for governor? Recall Richard Snelling. About a year before he ran for office, he would lose fifty pounds. Everybody knew that Snelling was off again.

This year Speaker Gaye Symington has a new hairdo. Does this mean that she is running for governor? Her liberal friends we asked said yes. Now if she can only shelve the sack cloth and sandals.

CAN'T WE JUST RAISE TAXES A LITTLE MORE?

Air America, not to be confused with the movie by the same name starring Mel Gibson and Robert Downey, Jr., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Air America was founded on the premise that the left needed a Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh, however, passed basic math in grade school. He realized that to be on the air you need affiliates to carry your programming and advertisers to support it. Democrats running Air America, mostly into the ground, never received that message.

This is from the New York Times: "Detractors label the liberal network's programming as combative, one-note and emotional. At least its business dealings seem to fit that last description even before Air America and its corporate parent, Piquant L.L.C., sought bankruptcy protection on Oct. 13...

"In recent weeks, Air America has suffered the defection of a handful of its more than 80 affiliated stations. At the root of its problems, some critics and competitors say, has been an inability to negotiate a middle path between its political mission and its business... Stuart Krane, a former ABC Radio executive, said, 'If you have a healthy business, then your agenda will be put forth.'

"Some people at Air America assert that the network was top-heavy with management, inept at selling ads, unwilling to make program compromises that veered from the liberal message and overstaffed with more than 100 employees when two dozen would have sufficed. Danny Goldberg, a music executive, said the problem was 'a big gap between the ambitions of the company and the funding available to accomplish those ambitions.'

"Terence F. Kelly, a former board chairman, said that he was disappointed that rich Democrats did not step up to support the network's political goals. On fund-raising calls, he said, he was often turned down because the business plan was too risky."

Sounds about right: "the plan was too risky, they used a hundred people when a dozen would do, they were emotional, there was an inability to negotiate a middle path, they were inept and unwilling to make compromises, and there was a big gap between their ambitions and the funding available."

THANKS FOR THE EDUCATION

Rich Tarrant is alive and well. In an interview with DPR, Tarrant said, "I have no regrets, none. I have learned more in the last eighteen months than I did in my whole life. I learned about the issues, politics, and people. But most of all I learned about Vermont, its people and problems and opportunities; the good and the bad.

"Young people are leaving because there are no career paths open to them here. And if there were, they could not afford to live here; the cost of housing, health care, taxes and education are just too high for them to raise a family.

"The state has just gone too far to the left. These problems cannot be fixed by them." The economic model does not work.

YOU WON'T HAVE... TO KICK AROUND ANYMORE

Richard Nixon exited public life in 1962 after losing to Governor Pat Brown of California by 300,000 votes. Speaking to the media, which he blamed for his defeat, Nixon said, "This is my last press conference. You won't have Nixon to kick around any more."

It appears that Tarrant is not yet done. Having received a Christmas card from the Tarrants, we asked if he was running again. He said, "No, not today. I promised my wife that I would not commit to anything until February.

THE COST OF A QUILL

United States Supreme Court tradition holds that following an appearance to argue before the court, the lawyer is presented with a quill pen. According to Findlaw.com, many an attorney will frame and hang his/her quill. We wonder what Attorney General William Sorrell did with his? We hope that he cherishes it; it only cost us almost $1,500,000 in legal fees plus perhaps $500,000 in state costs to argue the campaign finance case.

QUESTIONING SORRELL

Court observers questioned why Sorrell, who is not an experienced trail lawyer, did not contract with someone who was to argue Vermont's campaign finance law before the court?

Court observers questioned why Sorrell argued that a $400 contribution in Vermont, the maximum under the law, would corrupt a politician? Even Chief Justice Roberts guffawed at the notion. When Justice Roberts asked him how many cases for dirty money he had prosecuted, Sorrell had to answer sheepishly, "None".

Court observers suggest that if Sorrell had argued that this was a state's right issue, Vermont might have won and avoided the potential of having to pay the litigants attorney his fees of nearly $1,500,000. After all, they say, this Court is a state's rights court and why should Vermont not be allowed to craft its own campaign finance laws?

SORRELL ANSWERS THOSE QUESTIONS

In an interview with DPR, Sorrell defended his efforts. "We practiced and practiced and practiced. We hired Carter Phillips to consult with us, train us, and create our legal strategy. We argued in front of moot courts here in Vermont with "judges" from Vermont Law School, at Carter Phillips' law firm, Sidley, where they have thirty-two former Supreme Court clerks practicing, and at a smaller Supreme Court replica at George Washington University. The moot courts were much harder than the real thing."

Mr. Phillips was selected as one of the one hundred most influential lawyers in American in 2006.

"Carter Phillips was sitting with me at the table before the court. We argued state's rights. The bill in Vermont went through over sixty hearings, it was supported by more than half of the Democrats and the Republicans; it was the will of the people. We had state experts testify that money influenced outcomes here. One state employee said, 'On good days money gives access, on bad days it gives influence.'

FREE SPEECH VERSUS STATE'S RIGHTS

"Unfortunately, the press was more fascinated with other aspects, particularly Chief Justice Roberts' questions suggesting that $400 would never influence legislation. But it does. In a Tennessee case, the Court supported Tennessee's right to keep politics one hundred yards from any polling place. It overcame its reluctance to limit free speech guaranteed in the First Amendment in favor of Tennessee's right to regulate its own electoral process from the Eleventh Amendment.

"If the case had been called six months earlier we might have won. We thought that Justice O'Conner would have been on our side, Justice Breyer too. But when our day came, Justice O'Conner had been replaced by Justice Alito, who was in his third week. Chief Justice Roberts was new. Changing Buckley v Valeo, which found that money equaled speech, but supporting our case was not something that a new Chief Justice would want to do. Roberts also is an incrementalist not a revolutionary."

PATIENCE, PATIENCE, PATIENCE

Recently, the Valley News ran a photo of a man in northern China who was holding his employer's wife on a traffic overpass threatening her with a hatchet while demanding a payment of back wages. It was noted that after some time, the incident ended; nobody was hurt.

In Vermont, there have been three recent tragedies where law enforcement killed men with mental challenges. In each case, law enforcement took lethal action within minutes of arriving on the scene. Patience was not displayed. Sorrell investigated and exonerated law enforcement; unjustly, editorialists, lawyers, and concerned citizens have said.

SORRELL SPEAKS

Attorney General Sorrell defended his actions. "I am the chief law enforcement officer of the State of Vermont. But my role as such is limited to 'counsel and assist.' In my investigations, I was limited to finding whether there was a violation of the criminal laws, if a murder charge was warranted or manslaughter. The action of the law enforcement, while tragic, did not come close to a charge of murder or manslaughter.

"In Woody's case, I personally spent days in Brattleboro interviewing everyone who was in the church at the time of the shooting. There were multiple testimonies that Woody told people in the church and people later in the rescue vehicle, 'Please tell the officers that I am sorry that I assaulted them but I just wanted to be shot.'

"Once more it is unfortunate that the media did not do a good job, only covering tragedy and not those instances where law enforcement talk down a person on the verge of a tragedy. It is unfortunate that the media only responds to tragedy and not to our ongoing efforts to train law enforcement in how to better handle cases where mental health is at the forefront of the challenge.

"I did feel a sense of responsibility that there seemed to be a flaw in the training of law enforcement that allowed these situations to all end tragically. I was able to persuade both Governor Douglas and the legislature to support a $50,000 request for specific training relating to these tragedies.

"It is not true that we pamper law enforcement. We have pursued cases against law enforcement in areas of assault, obstruction of justice, sexual conduct, fraud and other charges."

WHERE IS CHRIS GRAFF WHEN WE NEED HIM?

Vermont AP's relatively new bureau chief, John Curran, caught the attention of the "Best of the Web" this week with his generally sympathetic coverage of anti-war activist and Liberty Union's recent attorney general candidate Rosemarie Jackowski. He quoted Jackowski as saying, "I'm just a little old grandmother who has been really, really affected by the fact that my government is bombing children in Iraq."

She is not just another little old grandmother. Her being a member of the Socialist Party of America probably sets her apart from ninety-nine percent of the other grandmothers. Her being convicted of a crime, recently sent back to the local courts by Vermont' Supreme Court, probably sets her apart from most grandmothers as well.

HELP WANTED: SACRIFICIAL LAMBS
By Captain America

Editor's note: Captain America graces these pages annually. Captain America is a Vermont resident.

Vermont's demographics have long borne more resemblance to those of Europe than to those of the United States -- and this simple fact is becoming too painful to ignore. When Vermont finally passes Maine for the title of America's Oldest State, perhaps we can consider changing the state motto from "Freedom and Unity" to "Geezers in the Freezer."

As the problems that will flow from such a chronologically-imbalanced population become too ghastly to ignore, a great deal of airy and inward-looking rhetoric has been fanned about. Strangely, the root cause of this situation tends to be missed, even though it's fairly self-evident; several other states are experiencing population drains, and as the great American philosopher Yogi Berra once noted, "You can observe a lot just by watching."

The most important factor in internal migration is, well, basic economics. In Vermont, the core problem is that the state's economy has intentionally not been modernized; trying to "stand pat" with a 1974-esque economy may provide psychological comfort in certain quarters, but it guarantees that as the older economic activities inevitably slide in value, there will be no new and more modern "high-value" activities to supplant them. Without those activities, you don't have those jobs -- and therefore you will simply not be able to either attract or retain talented and energetic "producers."

This is not a problem that can be addressed with "education." To state that "Vermont is losing its young population" requires that we define "young" as "anyone under 50." Career opportunity in Vermont is inversely proportional to the skill and energy levels demanded; wages and career growth are severely limited, and this problem worsens the higher up the skill-and-energy ladder you go.

If you don't build it, they will not come.

Governmental and "public policy" folks are dearly beloved of the notion that all problems can be solved by tinkering with a policy here and a policy there. But Vermont's problems go deeper than that -- and as long as the larger culture continues to be based on greed and envy (rather than on respecting achievement and lauding accomplishment), no amount of policy-tinkering will do more than add further to cost.

For anyone (of virtually any age) with talent, ability, and energy, the whole world offers a never-ending feast of options and opportunities.

In contrast, choosing to be in Vermont now overwhelming means that one is expected to volunteer to be sacrificed to the pig-headed vanity, incredible ineptitude, and purely-ideological fantasies of a remnant ruling class of elderly flower children.

That's not much of a recruiting pitch, is it?

But that's the reality on the ground. When you boil away all the fluff, Vermont is now a society dominated by left-over 68ers "whose business model depends on the exploitation of naive recruits." (Hat tip: Moe Lane.)

Unfortunately, those who produce more than they consume tend to not be naive, and also tend to not be well-disposed to being exploited for the benefit of those who consume more than they produce.

Last year, the philosopher-writer Jaime Whyte noted that, "'From each according to his ability, to each according to his need,' was delightful to the tender ear, but to the tough ear, it's a recipe for a population with few abilities and many needs."

Sound familiar?

SAY WHAT?

»» Karen Kerin, Royalton:

1) You said, "Veto proof designation may discourage many a participant and turn arrogant many a member". That has already happened with the Democrat leadership talking about global warming and a host of other nonsense, while conservatives are struggling to get something done about the statewide property tax. The legislative swamp is trying hard to drown the statewide tax "revolt and repeal" initiative with a plethora of gibberish and baloney.

2) You said, "Great, for them. But who is representing us? In fact, nobody. Once in Montpelier, all that changes; pressures from lobbyists, advocates, chairmen, and the Speaker overwhelm most good intentions and we are forgotten". That is not fair to the many good legislators who do try very hard to restrain spending and cut taxes. In fact, we have some new legislators, at least here in Windsor County, that will work hard for those issues. Let's give them a chance before we condemn them.

3) You said, "They will not look to reduces taxes, but shift taxes". Yes, the far left Democrats will indeed try to do that, but as you noted earlier, "The speaker, who with the cooperation of all her members, and all the Progressive members, and the independent member, and if all are present, will have a veto-proof chamber. That is a difficult trick." You were correct in that assessment and we need to encourage the rational members to resist the left-wing nut cakes.

4) You said, "With the Democrats in ascendancy, his chairmanship for life, and microphones and cameras at the ready, it is doubtful Leahy will step down". That is undoubted, but there are four more years and Leahy is getting on in his years, so things may well change in the interim. Who knows what scandals may arise for his ineptness, the senator?

5) You said, "Here are Dean's reelect numbers for his last three elections: seventy percent, fifty-five, fifty. You fall fast if you linger. Douglas' last two elections are fifty-nine percent and fifty-six. The next will be lower." I take it that in both cases, the incumbent failed to keep their base satisfied. Dean had big plans for the presidential run and Douglas has lower ambitions. Douglas may just have to tough it out because opportunity does not present itself. The big question remains, will he be able to keep his base and particularly the conservatives that are presently very agitate?

6) You said, "The Valley News wrote, that "seventy percent of Vermonters support more wilderness." Forgive me, but where was the challenge to that report, in light of the massive number of people who were opposed during the GMNF planning process? Is it possible that the Valley News is following the Goebbels propaganda playbook and telling a lie often enough that people will accept it as true? Certainly the actual facts would suggest that is the case.

7) You said, "The most endangered species in Vermont, almost extinct, is the Vermonter". That was right on the mark and increasingly so as time goes by. We should try to gather statistics to back up that statement.

8) You said, "One of Peter Welch's promises was to take care of the economy. He spoke of how as Senate pro tem he had worked for permit reform and workmen's compensation insurance reform. The permit reform did almost nothing to really help the permit process; workmen's compensation reform was geared at slowing the double digit increases in premium expense." Well now he has a seat in congress where he can do even greater damage and make even less promising promises. Lovely, we get the shaft again.

9) You said, "Selectpeople, the highway department, and fire department boycotted the event. They were praised in editorials that asked, "Where would that leave the Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, pagans, and atheists?" We expect all of them would have been welcome, but that begs the question: who are we?" In Vermont we are predominately Christians of one flavor or another, which tells us that majority rule applies only when the liberals need it. Heaven help us! Oops, that is not PC.

10) You said, "Owner Bob Barnes had approval for weddings but it expired last year and will not be renewed. So much love and happiness taking place close to the Fischers a couple times a year was just too much". If the ceremonies were civil unions, would it have been okay with the Fishers? Doubtless!

DO SOMETHING!

»» Kevin Blier, Rutland: Third straight election Republicans lose seats in Montpelier...if this was the "bad year" to be a Republican, what's the excuse for the previous two elections? This isn't the first election in the last 4 years they've lost at least 10 seats in the House.

You had another DPR reader observe that the Republicans didn't run on explaining the "Revolt and Repeal" and making the connection between property taxes, Democrats, and the expense of funding public education. Quite and astute observation. Republicans having a tax issue only other states could dream about and they couldn't capitalize. So, who was responsible for packaging that message? Why didn't candidates follow it?

I would start by making the argument that Republicans support "public" education, just not "NEA" education and contrast what those differences mean. As long as the NEA runs public education in this country, it will continue to be the bloated, bureaucratic, expensive, mob-like, status-quo defending monopoly it has been for more than 20 years. Return real power back to school boards, administrators, and parents and education will instantaneously improve. Start by telling the NEA to pound sand come re-up time during contract negotiations and go from there. This is why the Republican Party needs to invest in "non-partisan" school board elections. Believe me, the NEA does, and they are a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Democrat Party.

Act 60 and 68 are the gimmicks, a revolving mess of "who dunnit", wrapped in an enigma, allowing the egalitarian fundamentalists in Vermont the duck and cover of arguing that "equal spending" is an "equal education"…it is nothing of the sorts! No one is to blame, yet everyone is to blame, and the voters are confused as to who the blame belongs to, which is exactly where the liberals like to have the debate. As long as everyone is confused, frustrated, and uninformed, the liberals get their way and can collectivize to their heart's content. Can't you just hear the "don't worry, leave it to us" circulating through the halls of Montpelier and the Department of Education?

Like the great economist Milt Friedman once quipped..."Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned"! God forbid we should take that huge pool of power, the Education Fund, away from Montpelier. After all, centralized power and state control are exactly the way the socialists in Montpelier like it.

But enough of the liberals. In my view, there is only one thing more dysfunctional than the Republican Party in Vermont, and that's the conservative movement! As a "guest" in the movement over the last 2-1/2 years, I can tell you first hand that the reason why it gets no traction or has no clout is because of its own organically-grown need to self-destruct.

The one goal that all the "leaders" in the conservative movement share is the need to be "the one"! And so while the issues that social conservatives care about lose ground daily, like abortion-on-demand and state-sanctioned depravity, the "leaders" in the movement climb over each other's back on the way to the top of what, a failed effort to effectively defend traditional values. There's an intellectual argument to be made to defend moral and traditional values, there's just no leaders who seem willing or able to make them. And if they are, they don't have the ability to carve and package a message the media is willing to give air or print time to.

Say what you will about liberals, but they get it! They could care less who "gets the credit" as long as their issues win the day, and that's the secret of their success in Vermont. Despite what any of the liberal wing-nut media-types believe, Vermont cannot be the "most liberal state" in America with Republicans in the top two posts in state government. Conservatives are not out-manned or out-gunned... they are outsmarted and out-willed!

Conservatives don't have the heart to win because they're too busy going to "Conservatives Anonymous" meetings, aka, Republican Assemblies, and whining about the "RINO" Republicans or the liberals. If they would spend less time whining about their despair and more time actually doing something about it, things could change. There's no one willing to do the hard work and the patience to embark on long-term progress. It won't happen overnight, but the conservative mind wants immediate results. Conservatives need to fight this natural impulse.

Lastly, if there is one thing I would suggest that needs to happen to begin to turn things around here in Vermont, it would be this... Mr. Tarrant, make Mr. Mitchell an offer he can't refuse!

ERRATUM

»» John McClaughry, Kirby: Your Shumlin story wasn't quite right. Shumlin spoke to the new legislators, with advice. Ross Sneyd reported the event to a business/lobbyist luncheon on Friday. Said Sneyd, "He told them how to be good legislators - things like keeping your word." At that point the 40 present at the luncheon spontaneously cracked up with laughter. It wasn't the new legislators who laughed.

THEY CAN HAVE THEIR WILDERNESS

»» Lyon Rich, Isle La Motte: Concerning your comment on "wilderness" -- about 12 years ago I called the State Department of Forests to inquire about what type of trees I should plant on the mostly cleared 50 acres I have on Isle La Motte. The professional who visited my property (who was, by the way, associated with UVM) begged me to keep it clear as the State has too much forest and not enough open land for the wildlife. "Do us all a favour and just brush hog it every few years". Well, the money I would spend to brush hog it doesn't exist because it is sent to the State in confiscatory "property taxes", and since the (non)permitting process to put up a house is impossible, the trees win by default and in the end, in the fantasy land of Vermont, nothing but the trees will be left standing.

LET THEM HAVE POLAND

»» James Gregoire, Fairfield: In a time that calls for strong and principled leaders such as F.D.R. and Winston Churchill we are stuck Neville Chamberlain and Lord Halifax protégés the likes of John Kerry, Howard Dean and Patrick Leahy. If the American and world leftist had the power and influence they wield today during WWII, we would have lost that war too. But then again, the lefts opposition to Iraq appears to be motivated more on their gaining personal power than on national defense or war strategy.

IT'S THE SPENDING, KNUCKLEHEAD!

»» Doug Richmond, Underhill: It always scares me when people start talking about property taxes being too high. That means that the participants in decision making can dodge the true, real issue. To control taxes, you must control spending!

We wouldn't be worried about taxes if the government spent reasonable amounts of money. Example, if they spent our money as carefully as they spent their own money. Only when they spend our money extravagantly on ridiculous projects, all at skyrocketing costs, do any of us have to really worry about taxes. That level of spending has arrived, and we have just reelected them all !?!?

Tax reform discussions have become figuring out which is the smallest voting block, or who, like businesses and vacation cottage owners, have no vote at all. Those groups will all be thrown into a pot. Whoever's group gets pulled from this pot full of envied victims will have their taxes doubled. This goes on until the "budget is balanced."

Liberty Anybody?

»» Robert Maynard, Williston: In your December 7th edition Rep. Steve Adams (R), Hartland wrote: "Be assured that Revolt and Repeal is very much alive and well." This is good to know, but we really need to address the root causes of which both ACT 60 and ACT 68 are merely symptoms.

We got ACT 68 as a reaction to ACT 60 and the revolt over higher property taxes when a record number of towns turned down their school budgets. Now ACT 68 has joined ACT 60 as a source of revolt. The criticism that those pushing for a repeal of these bills offer some alternative, points to the danger of repeating the folly that was behind the passage of ACT 68. ACT 68 did not address the fundamental problem of overspending on education and the faulty notion that higher education spending equals a better education, but merely shifted some of the tax burden from the highly visible property tax to less visible sales and telecommunication taxes. All this accomplished was to temporarily quiet down the tax revolt and ensure that spending on education would increase even more. In that respect, ACT 68 was even worse than ACT 60.

Now we have another revolt aimed at both bills, are we going to repeat history and go from bad to worse? It is time to reject the ludicrous notion that throwing more money at the public school system will improve education and cut back on our overspending in repealing these bills.

THEY LIKE US

»» Chet Greenwood, Newport: I enjoy your report.

»» Sandy England, Montpelier: Great stuff!

»» David M. Frink: I would like to sincerely thank you for including my letter to the editor of the Burlington Free Press (Here’s To You Joe Voter) in the most recent Dwinell Report. I’m honored to be included with quotes from General Abizaid and Theodore Roosevelt, not to mention giddy to be included with the great Milton Friedman. Keep up the great work!

»» Frank Tobe, Santa Barbara, CA: Hell my die-hard rabble-raising CONSERVATIVE friend, I see you're still pissing into the wind. I, instead, am lounging in Puerta Vallarta. But I'm working on a new blog entitled: "Let's Take Annihilation Out of the Equation." Hope all is well.

WHAT WOULD BERNIE DO?

"French voters are trying to preserve a 35-hour work week in a world where Indian engineers are ready to work a 35-hour day. Good luck.

"Voters in old Europe (and Vermont) seem to be saying to their leaders: stop the world, we want to get off; while voters in India have been telling their leaders: stop the world and build us a stepstool, we want to get on.

"The Indian state of West Bengal has the world's oldest elected Communist government. Some global technology firms looked at outsourcing there, but told the government they could not because of the possibility of worker strikes. No problem. The government declared information technology work an 'essential service,' making it illegal for those workers to strike." --Tom Friedman, New York Times

BERNIE'S HOLLOW PROMISES

"According to a confidential memorandum, I.B.M. is cutting 13,000 jobs in the United States and in Europe and creating 14,000 jobs in India. From 2000 to 2015, an estimated three million American jobs will have been outsourced; one in 10 technology jobs will leave these shores by the end of this year.

"It is heart-wrenching to see American programmers lose their jobs and have to worry about how they will pay the mortgage. They are ill served by politicians (like Bernie and Pat Leahy) who promise to bring their jobs back by the facile tactic of banning them from leaving." --Mark Steyn, The Daily Telegraph

ONTO THE NEXT GENERATION

"For an entire generation, the EU has created a totalitarian monster of its own, spewing out regulations literally by the millions and invading every corner of economic and social life. The results have been dire.

"What makes the capitalist system work, what keeps economies dynamic, is precisely nonconformity, the new, the unusual, the eccentric, the egregious, the innovative, springing from the inexhaustible inventiveness of human nature. Capitalism thrives on the absence of rules or the ability to circumvent them." --Paul Johnson, Daily Telegraph

WHAT DOES THE NEXT GENERATION CRAVE?

"What would help France (Vermont) most now would be to stimulate economic growth and lessen onerous regulation. Most critically, this would also open up entrepreneurial and employment opportunity for those now suffering more of a nightmare of closed options than anything resembling a European (Vermont) dream." --Joel Kotkin, Wall Street Journal, November 8, 2006

WHERE WAS THE CLASS OF 1968?

"What I cannot understand is the absence of any genuine anguish, of any soul-searching, mind-searching, and history-searching, when these people became aware that two to three million Cambodians were slaughtered or starved to death by Pol Pot's men." -- Jeane Kirkpatrick

GO WEST YOUNG MAN

"Unless a man has talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden. Of what avail is freedom to choose if the self be ineffectual? We join a mass movement to escape individual responsibility, or, in the words of the ardent young Nazi, 'to be free from freedom.'" --Eric Hoffer

ADVICE TO JIM DOUGLAS FROM THE GRAVE

"It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones." --Calvin Coolidge

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