Their sense of entitlement without accountability is a proven governing failure.
by Rob Roper
The last election indicated that Vermonters are finally catching on to the fact that VT Democrats (really the Progressives who infiltrated and took over the Democrat Party like a political version of the creature from John Carpenter’s The Thing) have wrecked our state. Turned us into a dumpster fire where the dumpster is filled with lithium-ion batteries from subsidized electric vehicles.
Just a quick rundown of their top hits:
Progressive healthcare policy over the past quarter century has produced the most expensive health insurance in the nation by far, bankrupt rural hospitals, created a lack of primary care physicians, and longer wait times for a declining quality of medical care.
Public education under the Prog/Dems has gone from one of the highest scoring systems in the country attained with average costs to taxpayers to the second most expensive per pupil (with the attendant property tax crisis) and test scores dropping to the middle of the national pack with no end to the decline in sight.
Under their pro-criminal law (non)enforcement policies, the Prog/Dems turned the safest state in the union, according to the FBI, into a place where violent crime, drug related crime, and industrial-scale shoplifting are now a major concern.
The Prog/Dem policies to help the homelessness have backfired spectacularly, creating one of the nation’s fastest growing homeless populations. This is partly driven by the crime policies mentioned above and partly by the loony-leftist environmental policies that make building homes difficult and unnecessarily expensive so that buying or renting becomes unaffordably so. I know they prefer the term “unhoused,” and in this case I guess I agree. The middle class has been “unhoused” — by Progressive Democrats! Maybe we should coin the term for those living on the streets as “people experiencing progressive crime, housing, and tax policies.”
I could go on, but don’t want to digress too far. Suffice to say, this is a record of blasting tax dollars out of a cannon at problems real and imaginary (and imaginary until made real via bad policy) with zero accountability for efficiency let alone effectiveness. It’s a disaster. It’s not a record to run on. Which brings us to the recent mole hill made mountain over the SNAP (aka Food Stamps) program and Governor Scott’s decision to give the federal government requested data.
First and foremost, SNAP is a federally funded but state managed program. That the federal government wants to see state level data – who is receiving benefits and what are they spending the money on — for a program that it pays for is not just reasonable, it would be irresponsible for them not to have that data. How else could the people in charge of paying for the program evaluate whether or not the money is being well spent and if the program is achieving the outcomes it’s supposed to be achieving? They couldn’t.
Scott is using common sense — and facts — in his August 5 press release, explaining:
Last month, the federal government notified states that they would be requiring states to provide specific information about Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants to validate eligibility determinations and ensure program integrity.
• All information provided to the federal government is information states are required to provide in accordance with the USDA’s notice in the Federal Register published June 23, 2025, pursuant to the federal Privacy Act of 1974.
• A law was also passed through a bipartisan effort in Congress in 2018, with unanimous support from Vermont’s congressional delegation, clarifying the government’s right to this information.
• There is no conflict with state law, and simply objecting to this request for the sake of political resistance could put the SNAP benefits of thousands of Vermont’s most vulnerable at risk.
Yup. No big deal.
Still, just about every prominent Prog/Dem politician and left-wing propaganda outfit posing as an objective news outlet pearl clutched, gnashed teeth, and rent garments over this absolute non-issue. Treasurer Mike Pieciak, AG Charity Clark, former Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman, and most recently Rep. Rebecca Holcomb (maybe more) all took to keyboard, camera, and/or microphone to decry helping the federal government audit for waste, fraud, and abuse in a federally funded program. Why?
Reason one, as mentioned above, their actual policy record being the equivalent of stuffing a hand grenade up the economy’s rectum and pulling the pin, all the Prog/Dems have to run on is “Orange Man Bad!” So, whatever the Trump Administration does, no matter if perfectly reasonable or even good, must be “resisted” as if it were the End of Days. Yawn.
And all of these governor wannabes see this as an opportunity, pathetic though it is, to tar Scott as some kinda sorta secret MAGA Trumpist in hopes the electorate will turn on the most popular governor in America for being, well, sane. Sure. Good luck with that strategy.
But really all this shows is what fiscally irresponsible, partisan hacks these people are. Their governing philosophy is one of arrogant entitlement divorced from any accountability. Give us the money; don’t ask any questions of us or hold us accountable for how it’s spent. Then, hypocrites not, they turn around and give away the money and don’t ask any questions of the people they give it to or hold them accountable for how it’s spent. When the money’s wasted, don’t ask questions, just take more more of the money you feel you’re entitled to and repeat. And this is why our state is fiscally FUBAR!
So, no, it’s not a surprise that when the Trump Administration – or anybody for that matter — wants to know if taxpayer money is being spent effectively and in accordance with the rules, the Prog/Dems will be rabidly opposed. I get it. I mean, if your record were as atrocious as theirs would you be a big fan of accountability either? Probably not.
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