[cloven]

I've been voting for Bernie since I moved to Vermont in 1995, and have never regretted either choice

[sheena12]

Originally Posted by jackmccullough

Bernie has been excellent for the people and the state of Vermont. He has been a strong voice for the values of everyday Vermonters, even those who otherwise support Republicans (compare his vote totals to those for Jim Douglas in the Northeast Kingdom, for example).

I don't doubt that there are people, some of whom post here, who find that the liberalizing trend of Vermont politics has been bad for the state. I think they are wrong. Nevertheless, that is not due to Bernie's influence as much as it is to population change over the last fifty-sixty years and, even more, to the changes in the Legislature brought about by the one man, one vote principle established by Baker v. Carr. There may be people who dislike that change, but the idea that the town of Somerset, population 5, should have the same vote in the Legislature as the city of Burlington, population 38,889, is palpably absurd.

No. It has nothing to do with Bernie Sanders. It has to do with demographic changes.

Vermont has never been "Conservative" or "Republican" the way places such as Texas or Alabama are. It's a different and less "wild eyed and religious" form of conservatism. More fiscal and libertarian.

I also agree that Sanders has been a strong and accurate voice for the values of the people of the state of Vermont. He really has no enemies. And no agenda. He is a true "public servant".

Personally, I know of Republicans who are considering voting for Bernie, and a couple of them recide in Vermont.

[arctichomesteader]

Originally Posted by jackmccullough

. There may be people who dislike that change, but the idea that the town of Somerset, population 5, should have the same vote in the Legislature as the city of Burlington, population 38,889, is palpably absurd.

That's essentially the way the U.S. Senate works (states like VT and WY have equal say with CA or NY) with the intent of protecting the rights of those in less populated areas against the "tyranny of the majority." That SCOTUS decision was really based on flimsy reasoning.

[harry chickpea]

Originally Posted by Magic Qwan

I feel the Bern, but Bernie critics say he ruined vermont with his progressive ideas. Is this true?

*SNORT*

I hear that you beat your wife. Is THAT true?

(mods - that was not a personal attack, it is a common legal rejoinder to an unwarranted last ditch offense by an incompetent attorney struggling to save a prosecution.)

Bernie came in AFTER the changes that were a watershed for Vermont had already happened. What the OP has is a pile of partisan mad cow disease poo that he is foisting as a question. About two minutes of research on Google would have shown that manure for what it is.

(My response is irrelevant to partisan politics, and in point of fact I started another thread a while back asking how Bernie did as a mayor.)

[BBMW]

I realize that I'm responding to an old post in an old thread, but I was going to start a local thread about crazy uncle Bernie, so I searched for existing threads and this seem similar enough.

So If what this poster is saying is true, is Vermont full of unreconstructed communists, because that's what Sanders is. I'm glad he was stopped from being President, because he'd be the next Lenin. I don't see what Vermonters see in him.

Originally Posted by sheena12

I love Vermont! Vermont LOVES Bernie. Bernie loves Vermont.

Seriously, I don't know of anyone who lives in Vermont who has a bad word to say about Bernie. I visit there several times a year.

Bernie2016!

[harry chickpea]

Originally Posted by BBMW

I realize that I'm responding to an old post in an old thread, but I was going to start a local thread about crazy uncle Bernie, so I searched for existing threads and this seem similar enough.

So If what this poster is saying is true, is Vermont full of unreconstructed communists, because that's what Sanders is. I'm glad he was stopped from being President, because he'd be the next Lenin. I don't see what Vermonters see in him.

Your comments might have more weight if you didn't confuse communism and socialism. They are no more the same than Catholic and Mormon.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

Your comments might have more weight if you didn't confuse communism and socialism. They are no more the same than Catholic and Mormon.

And you’re confusing socialism with a social Democrat. Socialism is the government owning the means of production. A social democrat is a capitalist who uses tax revenue to fund education, health care, and a safety net. K-12 public education, Medicare, and Social Security are examples of social democratic programs. It’s a spectrum and the United States has less of it than any other first world country.

It’s easier to support social democratic policies when you have a homogeneous population. Your neighbors are just like you. Vermont is a Lilly white state with almost no immigrants. It doesn’t have black people and Spanish-speaking brown people.

[sheena12]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

Your comments might have more weight if you didn't confuse communism and socialism. They are no more the same than Catholic and Mormon.

I think so too.

[Magic Qwan]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

And you’re confusing socialism with a social Democrat. Socialism is the government owning the means of production. A social democrat is a capitalist who uses tax revenue to fund education, health care, and a safety net. K-12 public education, Medicare, and Social Security are examples of social democratic programs. It’s a spectrum and the United States has less of it than any other first world country.

It’s easier to support social democratic policies when you have a homogeneous population. Your neighbors are just like you. Vermont is a Lilly white state with almost no immigrants. It doesn’t have black people and Spanish-speaking brown people.

I'm essentially a Social Democrat, but I think all firms should be worker co-ops, so worker-owned enterprises make up the market instead of exploitive traditional capitalist firms.

In a way, my ideology is the child of:

https://polcompball.fandom.com/wiki/Social_Democracy

and

https://polcompball.fandom.com/wiki/...rket_Socialism

and

https://polcompball.fandom.com/wiki/...atic_Socialism

I seriously doubt diversity is a genuine problem for social democratic policies. Race is only skin-deep, after all. Geneologically speaking, I'm 1/8 Choctaw Native, 4/8 German, and 3/8 English. I'm a white-passing mixed race male, and live in a majority black area. I'm also asexual and aromantic, so I'm LGBT, as well. I think class divides people far more than race does, and racism is just a symptom of classism. Think about it, most people who care about skin tone or physical characteristics are doing so because they are coding somebody who looks different from themselves as either higher or lower class. Remove class, and racism should be removed, too, at least to the extent class is removed.

[CatwomanofV]

There have been times when Bernie has helped me PERSONALLY! Had issues with the V.A. Called Bernie's office and the problem was taken care of. That has happened a couple of time.

Met him many times. What really floored me was the time when we went to see the Capital Steps at the Paramount. They were having a birthday party for Jim Jeffords-who was just about to retire. Bernie was there because he was running for Jim's seat. During intermission, we went outside. Bernie came out. We were wearing Bernie shirts so he came over to us. I was expecting something like, "What's your name?" but instead he said, "How are you doing, _____" to my husband. Yeah, he knows Hubby BY NAME! Don't know if he knows me by name but he does know me as Hubby's wife.


Cat