The pot calls the maple trees black.

by Rob Roper

Rural Vermont Rising clearly has the Left spooked. Rightly so. Any organization that goes from zero to nearly 16,000 followers in a matter of a few months and is organizing itself with town-based chapters aimed at rolling back big chunks of the Democratic Socialist (or progressive, or “woke,” or whatever you want to call it) agenda – and racking up victories – should strike fear in the hearts of the Bernie-buds. So here come the panicked attacks….

This latest attempt at negative spin comes from Leftie blogger John Walters with a piece titled, “The Rich Scent of Astroturf Descends Upon Our Verdant Landscape.” Astroturf? Really? The political definition of “astroturf” according to Merriam Webster is “organized activity that is intended to create a false impression of a widespread, spontaneously arising, grassroots movement in support of or in opposition to something (such as a political policy) but that is in reality initiated and controlled by a concealed group or organization (such as a corporation).”

So… where’s the hidden cabal of corporate interests here? What deep pocketed tech-bros are pushing an agenda to allow families subdivide and pass along their properties to their children? Or allow farmers to hold agricultural events without having to go through Act 250? Or simply to get Montpelier to stop passing taxes and regulations that disproportionately punish rural residents. Gotta say, I see no evidence of this.

Walters asks with conspiratorial side-eye why all this “astroturf” activity is happening now. The very question itself shows disdain for the “cave dwellers” who can’t possibly have agency regarding what’s being done to them by their political betters.

What’s happening now in rural Vermont today is a rare, genuine grassroots movement. I’d argue it started in 2023 when thousands of (mainly) rural folks who use oil, propane, kerosene, and natural gas to heat their aging housing stock – about 80 percent of the grassroots – contacted their supermajority Democrat legislators asking them not to pass the Clean Heat Standard and got the political version of “the bird” as a response. That lit the fuse, which burned down to the TNT in July 2024 when everybody got a massive (14 percent on average) property tax increase resulting in a massive, collective, grassroots WTF!!!

These events woke the grassroots up – mostly in rural areas, but certainly not limited to them – to the fact that a majority of the politicians elected to represent them were really not at all interested in doing that. What they were doing was (and, don’t be fooled, still is) putting monied special interests, ideological agendas, and partisan politics before the needs and desires of their constituents. Not surprisingly, this revelation – not sneaky corporate dollars — pissed a lot of rural people off.

What is surprising is that the pissed off grassroots didn’t exhibit its usual short memory and go away after its November 2024 ousting of the Democrat supermajorities in the House and Senate. Instead, they started paying attention. And what caught their attention was another of those supermajority gems, Act 181. And then they started organizing.

It doesn’t take a conspiracy and big-dollar funding by corporate big-wigs hiding in a conference room somewhere to motivate people to action when their private property rights are being taken away – and their local schools being threatened, and their local hospitals in financial distress, and their taxes rising to unaffordable levels…

But Walters brings receipts (pardon me laughing into my sleeve here) to his argument. Rural Vermont Rising and its spinoff movement, the Vermont Party, you see says Walters, are using AI generated images. Kinda like everybody else is, playing with this new technology. And, just checked, Canva costs $18 a month following a one-month free trial period. Hardly an expense requiring a donation from Elon Musk. And as far as I can tell, Rural Vermont Rising hasn’t boosted any of its Facebook posts or done any paid advertising. (Correct me if I’m wrong.)

Then Walters tries to tie Republican congressional candidate Mark Coester and his recent controversial remarks to Rural Vermont Rising and the Vermont Party despite the fact that neither has any association with Coester. Coester has never even posted as a guest anything on either of their Facebook pages. Whether you like Coester or not is immaterial: it’s a totally fabricated, BS allegation by Walters.

But Walters isn’t done with the fabricated, BS allegations. He spends a huge chunk of his post pointing out that Vermont was poor, had a small population, faced economic challenges, and farmers struggled in the days before the interstate highway was built. That’s true. But TOTALLY IRRELEVANT! Because contrary to the fantasy thesis Walters’ floats that Rural Vermont Rising and the Vermont Party want to take us back to those pre-I-89 times, there is absolutely zero evidence that this is the case. In fact, their stated priories center on practical, present-day issues — affordability for low-income rural families, ability to improve land incrementally, family impacts, and excessive red tape. A modern, working landscape that allows for 21st century opportunity and innovation as opposed to a return to the pre-1600s-esque untouched wilderness that the promoters of Act 181 had in mind when they passed that law.

Walters does close his piece with some good advice: follow the money. Because it turns out that the big moneyed corporate interests generating the “astroturf” movements are out there in Vermont. VPIRG, for example, has a $2 million/year budget. The Vermont Natural Resources Council has a $1.5 million budget, and their 990 indicates that over $1 million comes from just eleven un-named donors. Sounds like they are “controlled by a concealed group,” referring back to that dictionary definition of “astroturf” dun’it. There’s lots more, of course. CLF, the VTNEA, Energy Action Network, Democracy for America… And I doubt Walters has a problem with any of their actually-astroturf campaigns. He’s basically the pot calling the maple trees black.

To sum up, Walters’ article is a heaping pile of material rural Vermont dairy (and beef) farmers would be quite familiar with manufactured to unjustly discredit citizens trying to petition their government for redress of grievances, to quote the First Amendment, and participate effectively as informed citizens in the political process. This hit follows the bogus accusations, never substantiated, of the groups making violent threats against politicians.

Well, Politics ain’t bean bag as the saying goes. The lies from the Left about this movement and the people in it are just beginning. Get used to it. And be ready to fight back.

Rob Roper is a freelance writer who has been involved with Vermont politics and policy for over 20 years. This article reprinted with permission from Behind the Lines: Rob Roper on Vermont Politics, robertroper.substack.com