Neil Johnson: Coyotes and ‘astroturfing’ in Vermont
Just say no to astroturfing. Vermont would do well for its sanity, productivity and prosperity to adopt this motto.
Roper: Reporter Dobbs gone to Carolina (Part 2)
It is also worth noting some of the things North Carolina has not done over the past decade. For example, North Carolina does not have a $15 minimum wage. In fact, North Carolina’s minimum wage is the lowest allowable by federal law: $7.25 an hour. And, North Carolina does not have a Paid Family Leave program.
Roper: Surplus shows why Vermont needs a Taxpayer Bill of Rights
TABOR basically states that any revenue raised beyond what was required to meet the fiscal year’s budgeted obligations must be returned to the taxpayers. Period. End of discussion.
Roper: Seven Days reporter votes with his feet, heads for red state North Carolina
Vermont’s leading progressive news publication, Seven Days, reported that one of their award-winning young journalists, Taylor Dobbs, “is moving to North Carolina with his wife, Tori, after years of trying to make it financially in Vermont.” Oh, the irony here.
Frenier: School choice as reparation
If the Democratic candidates for president really want to make effective reparations to African-Americans they would advocate nation-wide school choice for them.
McClaughry: Lake cleanup’s skewed spending priorities
Is there a better way to reduce the phosphorus loading of Lake Champlain by 34% in 20 years, as EPA and the state have agreed to do? Probably, but Montpelier officialdom has made its choices, and cost effectiveness has not been a leading criterion.
Tyler Colford: Innovation needed to reduce prison population
“No system will be perfect, but allowing the market to figure out these options helps push innovation instead of having the government hamstring it.”
The left’s attacks on the Electoral College are all about political power
It seems that there isn’t a prominent progressive left in America who hasn’t come out in favor of abolishing the Electoral College. The latest is Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who called for an end to our 200-plus-year-old presidential election system on Twitter earlier this month.
Flemming: The threat of government emergencies to liberty
American presidents have, in the past 50 years, piled on dozens of ongoing emergencies. Every successive emergency becomes a little more ironic, given the supposed focus America should have on each individual emergency.
McClaughry: Montpelier climate protest
Maybe it’s time for ordinary Vermonters to make demands. Try this: “We demand that climate change civil disobedience protesters be arrested, booked, put before a judge, and if convicted, sent off to a rustic camp up in Essex County without their cell phones to plant carbon dioxide-sucking trees for a week or two.”
John Klar: Mea culpa III
It is we Vermonters who are owed a mea culpa from our governor. Though I twice voted for him, Phil Scott has not represented me and my family — we have been betrayed on guns, race, immigration, free speech, abortion and drug interdiction. Phil Scott has abandoned all fealty to conservatism.
Keelan: Let’s be real bold
Something might very well be going on with the change in climate. However, Vermont can’t solve the problem and it would be interesting to see how far some wish to control our lives in attempting to do so. It would be helpful to hear what the code words “bold action” really mean.