by John Bossange
Dictators love big government. They remain in power through the long arm of the law and big government overreach. For them the government is their tool of control and pathway to creating a police state. Here in Vermont, many believe in limited government, town meetings, local control, and individual freedom. Our state flag’s motto of “Freedom and Unity” says it all.
It is this contradiction that calls into question why any Vermonter would support President Trump and the MAGA Party agenda. Here, we decide on our local budgets, municipal laws and regulations. We have our own School Boards, Select Boards, City Councils, Planning Commissions, and dozens of volunteer advisory committees, each committed to an effective and responsible function from the smallest village to our largest city. So strong is our commitment to local control that we sometimes struggle with laws and regulations coming from our local representatives in Montpelier.
This is why President Trump’s use of big federal government excessive overreach should run against the grain of Vermonters who cherish our tradition of town meetings and local control. Do Vermonters who voted for President Trump find the following actions by the Trump administration acceptable big government reductions? Do they still want the government to protect and provide some of these essential services? Consider the list below:
*Privatizing and reducing Medicare and Social Security benefits for all citizens.
*Eliminating heating and housing assistance programs for low income Vermonters.
*Defunding FEMA leaving Vermonters no federal flood or disaster relief support
*Calling in the National Guard to quell protests and patrol Vermont’s streets.
*Using ICE to round up Vermonters, legal or not, without required due process.
*Searching homes of Vermonters who are considered “the enemy.”
*Cancelling licenses of Vermont’s media outlets because of unfavorable coverage.
*Issuing lawsuits against Vermont law firms for challenging ICE or FBI actions.
*Defunding the ACA leaving thousands of Vermonters without healthcare coverage.
*Eliminating federal price supports and subsidies for electric vehicles.
*Making vaccinations unavailable to some Vermonters.
*Censoring books in Vermont’s schools and libraries.
Many of these reductions and total cancellation of programs have not yet begun, but when they do, they will directly harm tens of thousands of Vermonters. For example, 165,000 Vermonters rely on Medicare for health insurance and an additional 156,000 count on their Social Security check every month. 26,000 Vermonters receive heating assistance funds, and another 14,000 lower income Vermonters receive housing assistance. 189,000 Vermonters use the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as their primary health insurance program.
Worst still is the elimination of the Administration of Community Living that supports the 110,000 Vermonters with disabilities and the 183,000 seniors living alone. That’s close to 300,000 Vermonters who will lose this survival safety net. Who would want to watch so many Vermonters harmed by these executive actions?
What about the elimination of FEMA, the organization that provided Vermont communities over $100,000,000 in disaster relief from the floods of 2023 and 2024?
Is Vermont expected to pick up those costs? Just imagine where so many of our communities would be now and how unsettled those thousands of families would still be if there were no funding allowing them to recover and resume their lives.
Vermonters will also struggle with the Trump tariffs impacting supply chains of imported essential goods, all reducing our purchasing power, especially for lower income families. And for those who wish to move forward with clean energy initiatives, the war on solar and wind in defense of the fossil fuel industry combined with the elimination of electric vehicle subsidies and incentives, will put a stop to many of our state’s cleaner environment goals that address the climate crisis.
Let’s be clear. These are the actions of a Dictator, President Trump, who has been empowered by MAGA Party members in Congress, and by recent Supreme Court rulings. Who would be so callous, insensitive, without empathy and disrespectful not to feel any remorse about harming Vermonters? President Trump, that’s who.
All of this is an example of big government overreach at its worst: Creating conflict between those who desire limited government and local control and those who need some government programs to provide essential, quality of life supports. Ten of thousands of hard working Vermonters and the nation’s citizens deserve better, and should not have to live with the tension of this conflict.
Vermonters will honor our flag’s motto by voicing our “Freedom” from oppressive government actions, and we will show our “Unity” by our resistance to this MAGA nightmare of forced harmful government reductions led by President Trump, created by the Heritage Foundation, supported by a loyal Republican Congress, and permitted by a complicit Supreme Court.