Op-Ed: Two events, two parties, intersecting viewpoints

By Nicholas Boke

What a contrast. A couple of hundred southern Vermont Democrats gathered — for the fourth time since Donald Trump was elected — on the Chester Green on Labor Day for  Workers over Billionaires, a honk-and-wave that included speeches by several state senators and a couple of Vermont labor union spokespeople.

The following Thursday evening, dozens of southern Vermont Republicans gathered — along with Democrats and independents — for a Public Legislative Forum at Ludlow Town Hall to listen to and ask questions of eight Republican state senators and representatives, along with Lt. Gov. John Rodgers, a Democrat recently turned Republican.

Almost everything that happened during these two events was different. For starters, there was nothing like the Democrats “singin’ songs and a-carryin’ signs,”  as Buffalo Springfield put it in For What It’s Worth, the Vietnam-era protest song, by the Republicans in the Town Hall. And there was nothing like the calm discussions held by Republican legislators and audience members by the Democrats on the Green.

The “signs” on the Green were old standards like “Impeach Trump” and idiosyncratic ones like “I’m so Angry I Made a Sign!” The songs and speeches were about personal freedoms, democracy and the importance of unions. The discussions in the Town Hall were familiar ones about things like the need to change the demographics of Vermont by building more housing, making it easier for businesses to set themselves up here, and the government spending less money — about all of which everyone, Democrats and Republicans alike, is concerned.

There was a similarity between the events. The Democratic activities on the Green were observed by a half-dozen Republicans who stood on the porch of the Fullerton Inn, watching and listening. And a dozen or so Democrats were scattered among the crowd at Ludlow Town Hall, also watching and listening.

The biggest difference, perhaps, was that, although there were clearly some MAGA-style questions coming from the audience in the Town Hall, several Republican legislators referenced “the mess in D.C.” without offering specifics.  To the Democrats, on the other hand, the entire issue was about the mess in D.C., the mess that President Trump set in motion and has continued to foster, with the latest such decision being to change the Department of Defense to the Department of War.

In Ludlow, it was nice to hear comments from the Republican legislators about the degree of collaboration they felt with their Democratic colleagues. And they were clearly pleased that the undoing of the Democratic and Progressive super-majority had allowed Gov. Phil Scott to successfully veto some bills, including the Clean Heat Bill, which had been considered very important by environmental groups.

Republicans also clearly hoped to increase their numbers in the state Senate and House, as several of them put it, to pay more attention to spending. Though most Republicans voted for Scott’s education reform bill, which is premised on consolidating Vermont school districts, there was no discussion of the diminution of local control of
schools, which is traditionally a Republican issue. There was also no reference to the treatment of immigrant farm-workers in Vermont or of other immigrants who have legally lived here some time.

The questions raised by the audience were familiar: What to do about taxes, about health care, about keeping the needy from moving to Vermont. One audience member’s recommendation to re-open the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant was not greeted with any suggestion that continuing to support solar, wind and hydro-power might be a better idea.

Democrats on the Green, however, focused on the precarious situation facing this country. For example, the Democrats’ issues included the arbitrary withdrawal of international funding — especially when places like Gaza, Sudan and Afghanistan need help so badly, the anti-scientific decisions being made about vaccines and health-
care in general and the unconstitutional treatment of immigrants and asylum-seekers.

The likelihood that the Trump administration push for the gerrymandering of more states before the 2026 midterm elections and the possibility that Trump might just declare some sort of martial law to enable him to enact the dictatorship he occasionally jokes about were on the minds of the demonstrators.

I’m pleased that the Republicans felt good about collaborating with Democrats in Vermont. I’m pleased that the legislators who spoke at the Ludlow gathering did not speak favorably about the Trump administration.
I am afraid, however, that their silent loyalty to the most corrupt and dishonest presidency in my almost 80 years may allow it to become even more corrupt, more dishonest and very, very dangerous. I hope that the collaboration they enjoy with Vermont Democratic legislators will become a collaboration about the threats facing America’s democracy before it’s too late.

Nicholas Boke is an international education consultant and free-lance writer. He lives in Chester.

 

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