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by Wade Holt
Vermonters expect their elected officials to represent them diligently, especially when Congress is in session. Yet too often, it appears our senior senator, Bernie Sanders, is focused elsewhere.
Last week, while the U.S. Senate was conducting business in Washington, Senator Sanders was not present to represent Vermont. Instead, he was in California advocating for a proposed tax increase on the wealthy — a cause he frequently champions, but one that has no direct connection to Vermont’s immediate needs. Vermonters are entitled to ask why their senator prioritizes national political activism over showing up for the job he was elected to do.
This is not an isolated incident. Senator Sanders routinely travels the country promoting his ideological agenda, often appearing at rallies and events far from Vermont. In 2025, he joined Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on a nationwide “Fighting Oligarchy” tour that crisscrossed the United States. Federal campaign-finance filings show that this tour alone resulted in more than $550,000 in campaign spending on private jet travel.
While these expenditures were made using campaign funds rather than taxpayer dollars, they raise a legitimate question: why are funds raised from Vermonters for a Vermont Senate campaign being used to finance a national political tour — particularly on days when the Senate was in session?
Campaign travel is not inherently improper. But representation requires presence. Vermonters do not send a senator to Washington so he can spend weeks at a time on the road promoting ideological causes in other states. They send him to legislate, vote, and advocate for Vermont’s interests.
Senator Sanders openly identifies as a democratic socialist and regularly criticizes capitalism. Yet his personal success within the very system he condemns invites scrutiny. He is a multimillionaire who owns three homes, while many Vermonters struggle to afford even one.
Senator Sanders often urges others to give more for the common good. Given Vermont’s visible homelessness crisis, it is reasonable to ask whether leaders who advocate sacrifice should also demonstrate it personally — especially when they possess resources far beyond what most Vermonters will ever have.
History offers sobering lessons about socialism. As former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once observed, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” Nations that have embraced socialist economic policies — Venezuela being a stark example — have experienced devastating economic collapse, shortages, and widespread poverty. These outcomes are not theoretical; they are well documented.
Vermonters deserve a senator who is focused on Vermont — not one who uses the office as a platform for a national ideological crusade. Senator Sanders should decide whom he intends to represent: the people of this state, or the political movement he has spent a lifetime promoting.
Public service is not a speaking tour. It is a job. And Vermonters have every right to ask whether they are getting their money’s worth.
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Categories: Commentary, Congress
No!
Bernie has been in Washington over 30 years. Last I looked at Congress.gov, in those 30 years he had originated only three bills that had passed into law, and two of them were for renaming post offices in Vermont. Does that answer your question? But hey, Bernie and his family are getting their money’s worth out of the taxpayers.
Vermont’s version of Elmer Gantry.
a communist masquerading as a socialist hiding under the skirt of the democratic party for the money.
never worked a day in his life…
but why work when Vermonters subsidize your book tour for 35 years.
No denying “Bernie” did great things saving the Burlington Waterfront For The People from the billionaire’s. That was 35 plus years ago. Since then what for Vermont? Bernie has made himself a nice feathered bed job and asset wise just like most other members of Congress but again, what direct benefit to Vermonters? Meanwhile FEMA disaster relief for floods xxx in Vermont? Denied. Appealed? No mention of that. Federal road reconstruction funds? Denied. Appealed? Again, no mention of anything he’s done. Small business development grant funds? Denied. No mention of efforts to restore. None of this is as flashy as fighting the 1% and Oligarchs but what is the function of his office ? Of Bernie? Me, I love philosophy but I also like to not be working at soon to be 73 to pay taxes to support soapbox politics. Enough already. Get real.
The Commie, disingenuous Senator from Brooklyn N.Y. is what he is, a Politically Obnoxious Shister (POS).
It’s not Bernie’s fault he hasn’t accomplished anything during his decades in office, other than becoming a multimillionaire…. It’s the fault of those who keep electing him. Yet ‘Working-at-being-a-Billionaire’ Bernie creates more grist daily for a new hypocrisy chapter in ‘My Lies as a Socialist’ book due out May 1, Karl Marx day. Madmandamni, AOC, The Fraud Squad, the yakking cows of The View, and his comrade wife Jane will be among the only ones in attendance. Do-Nothing Pelosi can’t attend because they found too little blood in her alcohol stream to go any distance beyond stumbling out the front door.
JJ Bottiggi
He has done an outstanding job.. At promoting himself. Vermont’s interests are way down on his lists of priorities
And why wouldn’t Vermonter’s interests be way down on Boinies list of priorities ? He’s not, nor has he ever been a Vermonter.
Don’t forget he stated this week he wouldn’t know how to obtain a copy of his birth certificate.
Really? REALLY? C’mon Vermont, we’re better than this.
Came to Vermont as a NYC Shyster and had been a NYC Shyster ever since…send that Metamucil swilling Shyster back to Brooklyn.
In the years after the Civil War he would have been known as a “carpet Bagger”.
Who keeps electing the creep?
Bernie is a very sad commentary on the intelligence of Vermont voters.
Wana be Vermonters .
Bernie’s agenda: Jin up and exploit our covetous jealousy of successful neighbor, righteously vilify their success, confiscate their stuff with promises to give it to us for our votes…then live off our naiveté for decades on a throne of heroic altruism. Is that about it? …we foolish to maintain him.