Peter Shumlin is the latest reason why I love Vermont. Why is Vermont special. If slavery is the US’ original sin, then Vermont was born without original sin, yeah, it’s called the immaculate conception. We’ve had our share of bigots, crooks and deadbeats, but we’ve had so many in a great long line that begins with Ethan Allen (in all his imperfections) to Matthew Lyon to Justin Morrill to George Aiken to Ralph Flanders to Consuelo Bailey to Phil Hoff to Bob Stafford to Richard Snelling to Madeline Kunin to Howard Dean and FINALLY PETER SHUMLIN.

For this Vermonter, real conservatism means carrying on the traditions of the only legitimate child of The Enlightenment.

BRIAN DUBIE WON’T

SAY WHAT HE REALLY BELIEVES

‘CAUSE IT’S DUBIEOUS

Just got the following email

“Dear Edward,

Judge Crawford has informed us that the primary election recount will begin on Wednesday, September 8th. We need your help to make this process go as quickly as possible. The judge has asked that we submit a list of volunteers by Friday morning (September 3rd). We will need 40 volunteers from each county to complete the recount.

Each county clerk will oversee a recount team, who will be responsible for counting all of the ballots in that county. Normally, each candidate would recruit their own volunteers in each county, but in order to make this process happen as quickly as possible, all five of us have agreed to put out the call generally and nominate the volunteers together.

CLICK HERE TO VOLUNTEER FOR THE RECOUNT

The more volunteers we can recruit in each county, the faster the recount can be completed. Please help if you can, especially if you have experience with elections or if you are on the Board of Civil Authority. Once we have a list of volunteers, we will submit them to Judge Crawford, so the process can begin on time. If you know people who might be interested in volunteering, please forward this email to them.

CLICK HERE TO VOLUNTEER FOR THE RECOUNT

If you can’t volunteer for the recount, but you want to help beat Brian Dubie in November, please make a contribution to the Shumlin for Governor campaign or a donation to the Vermont Democratic Party.  

Your contribution will go toward the coordinated campaign to elect Democrats up and down the ticket in November. We need your help now and we’ll need it in the coming weeks to win in November. Thanks for your support.

Sincerely,

Peter, Doug, Deb, Matt, & Susan”

Both states had seriously contested primaries.  In  Vermont, most of the contests were in the Democratic Party, while Florida had serious contests at the top of both party tickets.  I guess Floridians were too busy lining up for the early bird specials.  The turnout differences are amazing.  

The New York Times reports that in Florida “[i]n all, 1.25 million Republicans cast ballots in the Republican Governor’s race, while fewer than 909,000 Democrats voted in the Democratic Senate primary.”  Given the state’s population of about 18, 537,969 (at last estimate), that’s a turnout of 6.7% of the population for the GOP and 4.9% for the Dems.

In Vermont (population estimate: 621,254), there were 72,766 votes cast in the Democratic primary for Governor.  That’s 11.7% of the population.  (And in August!)

What does that say?  Vermont is a community.  Florida is a confederation of condos and shopping malls.

(This doesn’t convince me but I can see how it might convince some.  Thanks for the effort. – promoted by JulieWaters)

Peter Shumlin

by Ed Weissman, Dorset

I support Peter Shumlin for Governor.  I’m telling you why.  This is written, in part, to persuade Julie Waters to come to a decision and vote for Peter.

We have a fine slate of candidates in the Democratic primary for Governor.  As I recently wrote in the Rutland Herald, this primary cries out for approval voting in which voters can for as many of the candidates of whom they “approve.”  At the end of the day (next Tuesday, in fact), only one of the five can be the candidate for Governor.  It should be Peter.

It was Peter as Senate President and House Speaker Shap Smith who made it all but impossible for Governor Douglas to run again.  They did so with what was, in effect, a double vote of non-confidence.   Of course, Vermont doesn’t have a parliamentary system though it should.  But the successful votes to override Douglas’ vetoes of marriage equality and the budget put Jim Douglas on notice that he could not continue to govern.  

Douglas’ veto of marriage equality ignored Vermont’s DNA which began with equality.  On the budget, Douglas could no longer deliver the lower taxes and regulatory wiggle room that his big bucks supporters wanted.  

Marriage equality may well be a “motherhood” issue for most Democrats and some Republicans, but it was Peter, and only Peter, who moved the issue from the back of the bus to the front of the queue.

That is leadership, that is governing, that is more revealing than a thousand sound bites and a flurry of focus groups.

With Douglas out, the Republicans have the Brian Dubie.  Brian has money mainly because he can draw on the resources of the anti-choice, theocratic and homophobic religious right.  Like Western European Communists during the Cold War, Brian won’t talk about his hidden agenda.  They denied being puppets of the Kremlin.  He doesn’t talk of the “family values” crowd who pulls his strings.

This election will focus on two Brian Dubies, the one you see and the one you don’t see.  Peter has the skills to force both of them out in the open.  Who is Brian Dubie?  For me, he’s a dumbed-down Isaac Tichenor. Tichenor is the “Jersey slick” (so-named be Ethan Allen) lawyer who rode into office in Vermont on the heels of the repressions of the Alien and Sedition Acts of the 1790’s.  What else does Brian Dubie have to offer.  He can fly a plane!  He can drive a car!!  He can, on occasion, walk upright.  

Peter is the only candidate who has shown he can deliver, in fact and with courage.  He check-mated Douglas out of office.  He can deliver a vibrant sustainable economy, 21st century communications and energy.  He understands that water, and preserving what we have in Vermont, will be a central issue in the next years.  The issue is government that works.  Peter Shumlin knows how that is done.

Watch Peter govern.  See him campaign.  Listen to him speak.  Peter Shumlin delivers.

(This was unique and some interesting comments follow it. – promoted by Christian Avard)

Vermont Exceptionalism

Vermont is exceptional.  It is because it is the unique in the world: it was born free.  Nowhere else ever was.  How and why will follow, but, first a list of some of Vermont’s exceptional moments.

1777:  Vermont’s first Constitution begins by banning slavery.

1798:  Matthew Lyon goes to jail for criticizing John Adams under the Alien and Sedition Acts.

1824:   Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT,  graduates the first African American from college in American history.  His name: Alexander Twilight.

1836:   Alexander Twilight elected to the Vermont Legislature, first African American elected to public office

1861-65: Vermont suffers the greatest per capita casualties in the war against slavery.

Sept, 1941:  Vermont declares war on Nazi Germany three months before Pearl Harbor.

1953: Senator Ralph Flanders (R-VT) is first Senator to attack Joe McCarthy and McCarthyism.

1974:  George Aiken ends a public career of over forty years of wisdom as Governor and U.S. Senator.  

2000:  Vermont creates the idea and fact of Civil Unions.

2006:  Vermont elects first Socialist ever from any state to the U.S. Senate.

2009:  Vermont legislates marriage equality.  Not heterosexual marriage and gay marriage, but marriage.

Vermont is the only legitimate child of the Enlightenment.  There were two bastards.  France and the  U.S.  The French Enlightenment led to the French Revolution which was a mindless bloodbath leading directly to Napoleon’s tyranny and massive European bloodshed.  With all the fine talk of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the U.S. was born with slavery which only was kind of ended by the bloody Civil War which the South still doesn’t know it lost.  At least, the UK ended slavery through the legislative process and a generation before the Civil War.  

Vermont found the balance between individual and community with the individual as member of a town.  The mountains made grand estates impossible.   Banning slavery as the first act set the tone for an entire history.  Government was not the enemy; it was and is us.  

It’s not a history of the rich and powerful.  It’s also the young stoners sitting around ski hills and inventing the now Olympic sport of snowboarding.  There are mountains with snow all over the world; yet, only a few places figured out how to have fun sliding down them.  

At the end of my musical about Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys, I have Ethan say what I believe.

“When you drive into Vermont,

you don’t need a sign saying

‘welcome to Vermont,’

you know you’re here.  

When you see the magnificent color

of the leaves in the fall,

you don’t need a postcard saying ‘greetings from Vermont’

to know where you are.  

You don’t need Irving Berlin

to describe Christmas in Vermont,

you know what it’s like.  

No one needs to tell you.  

You’re Vermonters,

and you already know about

our towns and our town meetings,

our rivers and our mountains

and all the amazing things Vermont and Vermonters have done.  

I love this place.  Take care of it!”

Whinge (rhymes with fringe) is Britspeak for whine.  Much better word, and it sure fits our lady of Arlington, Cynthia Whinging.  Apparently, she met with some members of the church I go to, St. James, Arlington about marriage and it was fairly ugly.  St. James is the oldest Episcopal parish in VT and it dates from 1764.  The first Mrs. Ethan Allen is buried in our churchyard.  The names on our stained glass windows echo through Vermont history.  I realize that Cynthia is the whinge with the lunatic fringe on top.

The mortgage meltdown in the U.S. and the awful wildfires that devastated parts of Australia would seem to be two very different stories.  One is the story of mortgage lending gone wild; the other is the story of arson and nature burning homes and people.  Yet, there is direct similarity.  In both countries, the devastation occurred in what Americans call exurbia and Australians call tree changing areas i.e. new communities build out beyond the edge of urban and suburban areas.  The conclusion is simple: exurbia both financially and physically is not only unsustainable, but catastrophic.   We are at the end of sprawl.  

Living, as I do, in the most rural state in the U.S., if the McMansions invade, we will fight them in the villages, we will fight them on the mountains, we will use tax rates and building codes and ACT 250, we will never surrender.

I used to teach Canadian Con Law at York U. in Toronto.

It is perfectly legal and constitutional for a new government to be formed in a sitting Parliament.  All the talk you may read about it being undemocratic and a coup d’etat for the Liberals, the NDP and the Bloc to unseat the Conservatices is dangerous and dishonest nonsense.

The question to ask is this: does the government of the day enjoy the support of (a majority of members of) the House of Commons?

Usually if a government loses a vote of confidence (or a vote which is tantamount to confidence like a budget vote), the Prime Minister asks the Governor-General for a dissolution of the House and an election.  

The Governor-General has the reserve power to refuse that request if there is an other government which would enjoy the confidence of the House in the sitting Parliament.  

The fact that the Parliament is new (only six weeks since the election) also strengthens the case for not dissolving the House.

The best book on the subject, and it is definitive, is The royal power of dissolution in the British Commonwealth by Eugene Forsey.

Background

The term ‘constitution’ in the British Commonwealth means more than just the written documents but includes the traditions, customs, usages, and understandings surrounding any written documents.

The Governor-General is the Queen’s representative and has the same role as does the Queen.  Since Canada and fifteen other realms within the Commonwealth are independent nations, the term Queen refers not to the Queen of the United Kingdom, but to the Queen of the realm in question.  Thus, she is the Queen of Canada.  The Governor-General is appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister of the realm over which the G-G will serve.

It is said correctly that the G-G holds the power but can’t use it.  The Prime Minister can use the power but does not hold it.

The current Conservative Party is a very different animal from the late Progressive Conservative Party which was a moderate party.  In particular, the current Prime Minister, Mr. Harper, is a genuine wing-nut who has been somewhat moderate since he has never had a majority of in the House.

Current Party standings

Liberal 77

NDP 37

Bloc Quebecois 49

Conservative 143

Independents 2

total 308

LIberal Party is not exactly like the Democrats.  It has had serious opposition on its left as well a right.  It has left wing and right wing Liberals within it.  Historically, it has been the pro-American party as well as the French Canadian and Catholic party.

The NDP is a social democratic party which has not moved right as has the British Labour Party and other social democratic parties.  At the same time, it has moved past the issues that defined ‘old Labour.’  

The Bloc Quebecois is a social democratic separatist party based entirely in Quebec.  More and more it is less and less really separatist.

The late Progressive Conservative Party was the Protestant Party as well as the party of the British connection.  Interestingly, the supporters of this party would view the NDP (a sister party of the British Labour Party) as the party to vote for if they were angry with the PCs.

Harper has moved the Opposition Day a week back from Dec 1 to 8.  

If the coalition plan works, Canada will have a new government well before Christmas.

“The very purpose of the Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One’s right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.”

Justice Robert H. Jackson in W. Virginia State Board of Education v.

Barnette (1943)