This commentary is by Matt Krauss, formerly of Stowe. He is a retired state employee and former state legislator.
Mary Shelley wrote a classic novel titled, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. The novel tells the story of Victor Frankenstein a brilliant scientist who becomes obsessed with learning the secret of life something that no one else had ever uncovered. He finally discovers it and uses the secret to create a being called Frankenstein’s creation.
Matt Krauss
The story has many meanings and lessons. One of those cautionary aspects focuses upon Frankenstein’s hubris. Hubris may be defined as excessive self-confidence, conceit, or arrogance. Remember the hubris surrounding the sinking of the Titanic? It also includes a lack of self-awareness leading to harmful or self-defeating behaviors. It leads a person to ignore or discount any opinion and information which doesn’t conform to their paradigm.
Victor Frankenstein assembles an eight foot tall being from various body parts and uses a spark of electricity to give him life. At first he is supremely pleased and filled with pride about his creation. But he soon finds less joy and hates the ugliness of it. His creation eventually takes revenge and destroys those who Victor Frankenstein loves including his wife, best friend and his younger brother. Later Victor is torn by shame and remorse for what he has done. By the end of the book a guilt ridden Frankenstein dies wishing he could have destroyed his own creation. Does this tale offer any lessons for Vermonters and the present legislative situation?
Does the story of the single payer health care plan jog any ones memory? Legislators and other constitutionally elected officials once promised to deliver a single payer health care plan no matter what. It rightfully met its demise once the final and real world costs were actually known. Luckily Vermonters discovered this before it passed rather then after. Did hubris play a part in this true story?
Sometimes it can take years of intense study to determine whether a course of legislative action should be followed. Many Vermonters didn’t mind the initial use of rBST an artificial hormone for cows. However after much further consideration and debate of the facts they rejected it’s use.
As a former member of the Vermont House of Representatives and the Vermont state Senate legislative service teaches a person valuable lessons. Experience taught me that every controversial bill had a few individual legislators who possess the full knowledge of what’s behind the bill and how it’s going to play out if it ever becomes a law. They know who will really benefit and the validity or falsehood of what was said and presented during testimony and debates. The remaining 180 legislators will do as they are told. And they will desperately hope and pray that what they were told holds up under legitimate intense scrutiny. They know they’ll be on the front line if it doesn’t work out as presented to Vermonters.
A Governor has access to state government departments and agencies that can gather and provide the most accurate and up to date information. A Governor can access the top leaders in the state and receive the best estimates, data and opinions which the finest minds in the state of Vermont can offer. Does it matter? Yes, especially when they are viewing the big picture and weighing items like Vermont competitiveness with other states and Vermont affordability.
The best predictor of future performance is past performance. In the debate so far there have been accusations bandied about by others claiming Governor Scott has not been truthful. Governor Scott has successfully served 10 years in the State Senate, 6 years as Lt. Governor and 7 years as Governor. And he recently was re-elected with a 70% favorable statewide vote. Can his detractors demonstrate similar periods of service from which Vermonters can judge the veracity of their claims?
In the 1931 Hollywood movie, Frankenstein, his creation throws a young girl into a lake drowning her. He does so unaware of the consequences of his actions. The local citizens later hunt for the creature with dogs, torches and clubs. The creature carries his creator inside a windmill. He hurls his creator to the ground intending to kill him, but Frankenstein has the good fortune to survive the fall. The citizens know the potential for great harm and danger to them all. They eventually burn the mill to the ground with the Frankenstein’s creation inside it.
A legislator like a banker, physician, reporter and lawyer depends upon their credibility and once it is tarnished it is exceeding hard to regain. Vermonters have a legitimate right to have any imprecise language well defined, all data rigorously scrutinized and all legislators answering citizens inquiries clearly and without canned responses. And The Affordable Heat Act must be tested by the Vermont media. Vermonters will now have weeks to begin the intense scrutiny and statewide debate needed to render an informed decision on the bill and their legislators.
Being from NH, I was shocked at the prices over in Vermont yesterday.
I got gas here for $3.19 a gallon here and it was $3.65 in VT.
Things at the farmstand were double and more often triple what they are over here.
My coffee is $2.65 in Vermont and in NH we get one for $1.07 that is the same exact Green Mountain Roasters.
I sometimes wonder if Vermonters understand that the cost of the state really shows up in every single thing you buy.. the prices of everything, I mean everything- just blew my mind.
I don’t know how the people that live out there with no access to NH to shop are making it !!
None of it has to be this way.. you are voting to pay three times higher for everything than we are in NH.
Vermont has a nickel and dime economy – for every nickel raised, they tax or surcharge it an extra dime. It’s been that way for decades. They built a behemouth welfare system starting in the 1980’s. Ever since, the bureacracy and lawfare grew with it expeditionally. The mentality is they can tax and spend into infinity and beyond. The ignorant populace is lulled into believing indentured servitude is a good trade off for the priviledge of living in a pleasant Hellhole. Above all, if all the corruption, waste, and thievery were eliminated, the cost of living here would drop and people could prosper instead of labor and worry themselves into early graves. The criminals run the show here, the grifters are beyond redemption, and the rest are just waiting for that proverbial other shoe to drop. It’s coming and it’s going to get ugly fast.
Healthcare reform started in 2006 with carpetbagger, corporate raider, Mitt Romney (aka Pierre Delecto) as Governor of Massachusetts. The Titanic sank and took out the Federal Reserve opposition. The Frankenstein anaolgy could be interpreted as a prophecy for gain-of-function research and the creation of medtech biolabs for depopulation and transhumanism purposes.
Mystery Babylon is no longer a mystery. Spiritual warfare. Good vs Evil. 2000+ years of civilizations rising and falling. This fight has only just begun. A Downybrook of epic proportions and the winner all ready determined. They know it and that is why they are all in on the wrong side.
I posted the following on Front Porch Forum yesterday and sent a copy to each elected official.
In the interests of openness and transparency, I hereby request that all of Addison County’s Representatives and Senators disclose on Front Porch Forum, either in response to this post or as a post on your local Front Porch Forum, how you intend to vote on the planned override of Governor Scott’s veto of S.5., the so called Clean Heat Standard, and if you agree that raising costs on fuel dealers by requiring them to buy “clean heat credits” will result in higher fuel prices for their customers in Addison County. If you don’t agree, please explain why. In your own words, please.
Excellent ! I assume that you are using your real name here.
An interesting comparison, Dr. Frankenstein and the current Vermont legislature- and the key is the extreme hubris exhibited by both. legislative leadership, embolden by what they perceived as a “mandate”have embarked on their agenda with a vengeance to “fix” Vermont. Instead, and historically with Dem/prog ruled legislatures- we’ve been given a monster that needs ever increasing taxation to feed.
It is long past time to burn the windmill to the ground and start over- but it seems a majority of current Vermont voters like the treatment. Gone is our traditional self-reliance and personal responsibility. This new Vermont voter appears to worship the totalitarian regime as traditional freedoms, opportunity and life are choked by the feeding of the “monster” this and past legislatures created.
The ending of this story will not be as hopeful as Frankenstein.
Agreed. As long as our legislative representatives think they are our legal GUARDIANS, (in other words, God), we will have to fight this. Unfortunately, too many of us have been cowed into silence or moved.
For example, NPR, PBS, VPT and VPR (I refuse to refer to them using the arrogant name Vermont Public because they do exist for the public, but for themselves) have clearly decided that America, Vermont and the Constitution are relics of an alien world and if you have the wrong perspective, they will ignore you. I tried many times to speak with Bob Kinzel, one of the few folks that actually tried to see all sides of issues, but ultimately failed.
I used to speak with reporters from VT Muckracker, but they got rid of the reporters that actually addressed both sides of an issue. Plus they got rid of comments when they became overwhelmingly conservative. Same with 7 Daze and the remnants of WCAX.
TNT and VDC are for all to comment (or bloviate) in an environment of learning and understanding what is actually happening in Vermont and why. To Guy and all those that have recently joined or been here a long time, thank you for participating in what Americans have the ability to do best. Talk.
Oops. TNR, not TNT
TNR is like TNT to the left, Allows comments, Allows the other side of the coin, and doesn’t promote government propaganda. It’s the truest form of MEDIA left. Ethan Allen and the boys would be proud of the work done by the contributing authors/reporters here as am I. A true bright light in the dankness of this commie socialist state.