To the Editor:

The movement to stop Israel’s murderous campaign against Palestinian civilians is up against the entire American military/industrial/congressional complex and assorted American war/death culture allies like AIPAC, The Heritage Foundation, and Fox News.

Leaders of the most powerful American institutions and major party presidential candidates Donald Trump and Joe Biden want to continue official participation in genocide. The United States spends more on its military than the next ten highest nations combined while maintaining seven hundred and fifty military bases in other countries. The U.S. continues to lead the nuclear arms race on a path to planetary annihilation. Sixty-two percent of the federal discretionary budget last year went to militarized programs and projects.

In 1967 Martin Luther King Jr. described this country’s military spending as a demonic, destructive suction tube siphoning off huge amounts of money and resources away from human needs and societal problem solutions along with exacerbating and escalating foreign internal and external conflicts. The American war/death culture hates the ethical compassion of the young. With transcendental wisdom, this spring’s student uprisings have rejected narcotic conformity as a lethal anesthetic and ignited a youth movement toward clarity and sanity while declaring the American war machine and its stockholders as repugnant and completely unacceptable. -Ralph Corbo, Wallingford

To The Editor:

By now people have heard that Bernie Sanders has decided to run for another term as senator at the age of 82. I have no issue with his age, after all Thomas Sowell is 92 and still one of our most important contributors to discussions on social and economic policies. If you are not familiar with the often published Thomas Sowell, that is understandable since he is a conservative black man.

There are 4 main reasons why I would love to debate Bernie Sanders. First and foremost he is a communist. Yes we all know he calls himself a “democratic socialist” but that is a contradiction in terms. In a democracy the individual comes first, under socialism the state comes first. Socialism is communism-lite. If the state believes taking your property is good for all, say good bye to your stuff. Private property is considered stolen property by those on the left.

Secondly , he is historically ignorant. He still thinks socialism/communism works! How did that great socialist society in Venezuela work out. Remember how Barack Obama waxed lyrical about Venezuela? England tried it, India tried it, Israel tried it. Many other European countries tried it. The Nordic countries tried it but they wised up. Many people think Sweden, Norway and Denmark are socialist countries. They are not. They are free-market capitalist countries. “Been there, done that!”.

Margaret Thatcher turned England around by selling off their government run industries and the UK is much better off for doing so. The U. S. Had to help England restructure its debt in the early 1980s as a result of the prior 30 years of socialism. The Iron Lady said “Under socialism sooner of later you run out of other people’s money” I know this as I have been to Merry Old 15 times since 1985. The north which was very socialist back then was very downtrodden and run down. Now the northern cities and villages are very vibrant.

Thirdly, Bernie Sanders is a fear monger. He keeps telling our younger generations that their American history stinks and so does their future. This is very unfair. No wonder so many millennials, Gen Xers, Gen Z’ers, etc. are depressed. He spouts the hysterics of global warming/climate change and supports the WEF and wants us to buy into the lunacy of “net zero emissions”. He would have us all in electric vehicles that contain batteries made from minerals mined by slave labor in Africa and China.

Forth, he is intellectually challenged when it comes to economics. Can he even balance a checkbook? Medicare for all? Has he even bothered to do the math? Forgiving student loans? Socialism is coerced. Under socialism the government controls the supply. If you want to buy something you must go to the government. Capitalism is completely voluntary. You can choose who you want to buy stuff from. Craig’s List is a classic case of buyers and sellers coming together to exchange goods and/or services. There is no government official in charge or overseeing the transaction. This is exactly what drives socialists/communists crazy. They have no control over the people under capitalism.

I could go on about his reprehensible statements about Israel but that is a battle for another day. God Bless America. -Bill Bruner, Hyde Park

To the Editor:

After the close of the polls on 5-30-24, voters in Rutland Town approved the third attempt at presenting a budget to meet with approval. There are questions and just plain ridiculousness in all the exercises that lead up to yesterday’s results.

First, the voter tabulation for Thursday’s results shows a significant rejection factor still in the mix.

And, right at the outset of this writing, there needs to be mention made of the fact that adequate notice of the voting on Thurs the 30th of May, was not received by many voters on the Center Rutland side of Town. Legally, my guess is all the bases were covered; but in reality they probably were not. First, the voters all across town have come to expect that receipt of mail in/hand-carry- in- ballots would be received in due course as has been the common practice since the Town presented the proposal of the Public Safety Building now under construction. This did not happen. Then,  after the decision for re-vote this time,   the vote came quickly and has become history in a window of time surprisingly much less than previous experiences offered. This is not good. Overcoming voter disenfranchisement and/or voter neglect will be an exercise in itself, time consuming and preventable. The Chair of the school board was warned of this at least once prior to the vote.

In my years of public service going back into the 70’s, I learned early on that the voters are number one, first and always…. nothing else trumps the facilitating and ease of getting to and from the polls in a timely, prudent, responsible, and practical fashion FOR THE VOTER.  We in public service work for the voter each and every day of the week with no exceptions, and that includes voting day(s). Any deviation from that long held concept, is totally unacceptable. Now getting back to the mention of rejection.

All across Vermont, School Budgets were rejected , in numbers not seen in years. The reasons for rejection have been accumulating for years. In the case of Rutland Town, which was a so called gold town under Act 60, later to be known as Act 68. This caused the taxpayers to be required to fork over millions upon millions of dollars to the VT Education Shark Pool, as it was known  in the early days. Changes in this law have changed the way financing is done at the local level to the tune of the current budget request of some $10 Million. That amount is a lot of money, and the voters nearly killed it again.

In speaking with the voters over this whole time lot, the voters tell me they are frustrated with the control practices at the State level, which have become cumbersome and questionable in many respects along with outcomes in student grade performance being un acceptable.

If the problems at the Department level are real, and I do not doubt that for a minute, it is incumbent on the local school board to consult with our lawmakers by sitting down with them and get the Montpelier issues that are burrs in the saddle out on the table. In Rutland Town we are fortunate to have a very large delegation of legislators that can be called upon; 3 Senators and 3 Representatives. Due diligence needs to prevail, with results prior to next budget year at Town Meeting 2025.

These issues that are burning with the voters, will be back again in March of 2025. The School Board has nearly a whole year to prepare for that event.

I rest my case. -James B Hall, Center Rutland

My fellow Vermonters:

I am a candidate for Vermont Representative for Addison-4, Bristol, Lincoln, Monkton, and Starksboro. I am running under the Vermont GOP G.E.T. R.E.A.L. platform in an effort to improve economic and social prosperity for all Vermonters.

It should be no secret due to my work as Vermont Family Alliance (VFA) Policy Analyst for the past two years that my focus is progeny over economic prosperity, yet the two go hand- in-hand. Defending and supporting the family structure, as well as preserving the means for Vermonters to support their families, are top priorities. My work for VFA includes listening to and analyzing committee discussions and witness testimony on relevant bills, research, and testifying to legislative committees on behalf of Vermont families. This work has provided me with experiential understanding of the legislative process and the U.S. and Vermont Constitutions, which I hope to utilize as a State Representative to further serve Vermonters.

Vermont is in triage mode! At a minimum, we need enough conservatives to sustain a gubernatorial veto to prevent the further erosion of economic and personal liberties. More optimistically, we need to repeal a lot of oppressive legislation that inhibits our ability to keep what we earn, run our businesses, own a home, raise our children according to our own values, defend ourselves, preserve, enjoy, and utilize our natural resources, and feel safe in our communities.

All of my articles and commentaries related to my work for Vermont Family Alliance – and more – can be found at https://vermontdailychronicle.com/

-Renee McGuinness, North Ferrisburgh