By Robert Roper
Forgive me if you feel like you’ve heard this before in these pages, but it needs to be said again on this eve of election day: Democrat/Progressive/Bernie-Socialist politicians have ruled Vermont virtually unchecked for decades, and the results have been nothing short of disastrous.
In Vermont, the only way to pass partisan legislation unchecked is with a trifecta (majorities in both the house and senate plus the governor), or with supermajorities in both chambers regardless of which party controls the governorship. Vermont Republicans have not been in such a position to put any policy into practice since – I cannot find records that go back that far. Best guess, briefly during the mid 1980s during the Snelling administration over 40 years ago.
This political culture and the policy choices it has resulted in — since a lot of voters out there seem to need a reminder — not provided Vermonters with “equity,” opportunity, and prosperity, but rather with… well, let’s look at the record:
The highest property taxes in the nation.
The most expensive health insurance premiums in the nation.
The most expensive prescription drug costs in the nation.
The third highest overall tax burden in the nation
The highest business taxes in the nation.
A housing affordability and accessibility crisis.
Some of the highest electricity costs in the nation at 30 percent higher than the national average.
And all of this has led to….
Vermont being the only state losing population to both birth/death rates and in/outmigration.
A public education system that has dropped from a top 5 performer to near the bottom of the pack, while losing around 25,000 students.
Rising crime rates in what used to be the safest state in the union.
A labor shortage not helped by the fact that 64 percent of young people aged 18-34 are actively planning to flee the state.
The fastest rising homeless population in the country.
An economic momentum ranking of 51st (worst) in the nation, behind all other states plus Washington DC.
Vermonters – or at least those who haven’t already voted absentee — have a choice to make tomorrow, November 3rd: do we really want to continue down this path of giving more and more of our money to people who have a demonstrable record of wasting it on socialist utopian fantasies that only result in making the problems they ostensibly want to solve even worse? Or not that.
Do we really want to pour gasoline on the unaffordability crisis by ushering in another wave of higher taxes, more complicated regulations, and less accountability? Or not that.
Let’s not forget that it was just a few years ago, 2018-2024, that Democrats/Progressives enjoyed their last supermajority, and they acted like hokey gameshow contestant winners whose prize is 60 seconds to fill a shopping cart with everything they can grab off the shelves. That included passing the Global Warming Solutions Act over the governor’s veto, the Clean Heat Standard tax on home heating fuels, the Renewable Energy Standard driving up electric bills, property taxes rose roughly 30 percent between 2020-2024, including a 14% increase in 2024 alone. They passed a $100 million plus per year payroll tax, created a 6 percent sales tax on internet-based services, increased DMV fees by over 20 percent despite the Transportation department saying they didn’t need the money, and, of course, passed Act 181 robbing rural Vermonters of their property rights.
Are Vermont voters really going to drop trou, bend over and shout, “Thank you, sir (or in the case of Amanda Janoo, ma’am), may I have another?” I sincerely hope not. So please, folks, get out there and vote. It’s a lot easier than packing up your house, stuffing it all in a U-Haul, and moving to another state that isn’t politically suicidal.
Rob Roper is a freelance writer with 25 years of experience in Vermont politics including three years service as chair of the Vermont Republican Party and nine years as President of the Ethan Allen Institute, Vermont’s free market think tank.