A Scott Trooper takes issue with my assessment of Vermont’s political scene to which I offer a definitive response.

Articles referenced:

Faher, Mike. “Senate OKs abortion-rights constitutional amendment.”

https://vtdigger.org/2019/04/04/senate-oks-abortion-rights-constitutional-amendment/

Hansen, Meg. “Scott’s Absurd Crusade.”

https://www.rutlandherald.com/opinion/perspective/scott-s-absurd-crusade/article_6897d60e-4b4b-5d9d-8ad6-69cbb6a5b97d.html

--. “VT’s Sanctuary Status Appalls Republicans.”

http://meg-hansen.com/vermonts-sanctuary-status-appalls-republicans/

The episode reviews the new ShowTime miniseries, The Loudest Voice, about Roger Ailes and the creation of Fox News, and explains how mainstream cultural elites believe that allowing the right to have a voice in the America public sphere amounts to dividing the nation.

The American political left in 2019 is a very different animal from the one that storied Vermont Republican politicians faced in the past. George Aiken, Jim Jeffords, Rickard Snelling, and Jim Douglas inhabited a dramatically different political landscape.

So why do the Scott Troopers insist on resurrecting that obsolete brand? Why do they look backward and not forward for solutions to today’s problems? Why are they bent on renting a room in the house that Progressives built?

This episode responds to the Troopers’ oft-repeated accusation that Vermont conservatives practice ideological purity and thus are myopic and intolerant.

When Montpelier politicizes health policy, the people of Vermont lose.

N.B. Apologies for the audio fluctuations. Software patch was successful and chances that this issue will ever repeat = 0.

Further Reading:

Hansen, Meg. "Health insurance mandate a step backward for Vermont health care."

https://www.manchesterjournal.com/stories/health-insurance-mandate-a-step-backward-for-vermont-health-care,542082

---. "The Affordability Charade."

https://vtdigger.org/2018/08/12/meg-hansen-affordability-charade/

This episode unpacks economic patriotism, populism and its bad rap, and why Vermont needs a booster shot of both.

This episode explores the motif of the "Double" in American film and Vermont politics.

FDR famously assured the American people that they had nothing to fear but fear itself. He is known for another important phrase: "bold and persistent experimentation." In this episode, using the example of the All-Payer ACO model (OneCare VT), we see how the Green Mountain State continues FDR’s tradition of bold and persistent experimentation.

Further reading:

Bateman, Ashley. "Vermont's OneCare All-Payer System Beset by Problems."

https://www.heartland.org/news-opinion/news/vermonts-onecare-all-payer-system-beset-by-problems

Hansen, Meg. "Postpone vote on OneCare Vermont budget."

https://vtdigger.org/2018/11/19/meg-hansen-postpone-vote-onecare-vermont-budget/

---. "Unreliable Data Plagues Vermont’s All-Payer ACO Model."

https://www.caledonianrecord.com/opinion/columns/meg-hansen-unreliable-data-plagues-vermont-s-all-payer-aco/article_b7bbb57d-cdbc-5c13-a0b9-0bbe1e6be675.html

In 1883, American philosopher William Graham Sumner coined the term, “The Forgotten Man,” to describe those who had been compelled to pay for the many reformist programs of the Progressive Era. Sumner wrote, “He works, he votes, generally he prays — but he always pays.”

Over a century later, the political left has assumed the mantle of progressivism (albeit in a modified form), and nowhere is the predicament of Sumner’s forgotten man more pathetic than in the state of Vermont.

Further reading:

Klein, Naomi. "Capitalism vs. the Climate." https://www.thenation.com/article/capitalism-vs-climate/

Page, Guy. "New Act 250 would discourage country living."

http://ethanallen.org/new-act-250-would-fight-forest-fragmentation-and-climate-change-discourage-country-living/

What is a Vermont Republican?

The Scott Troopers, modern heirs of the Rockefeller Republicans, argue that only liberal Republicans can succeed in Vermont. In contrast, the Rebels believe that the right will only have a future when they show Vermonters that they stand for polices and positions that are distinct from the left.

This week, our activist legislature made Vermont first in the nation to enact radical restrictions on single-use plastic bags. The first "Thursday Thoughts" episode discusses the ideology underpinning climate change activism, and why the Green Left hates low-carbon, cheap nuclear energy.

Articles referenced:

LaMontagne, Eric. "Vermont is in Trouble." http://truenorthreports.com/vermont-is-in-trouble

Shellenberger, Michael. "The Real Reason They Hate Nuclear"

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2019/02/14/the-real-reason-they-hate-nuclear-is-because-it-means-we-dont-need-renewables/