Homeless Republicans

Vermont’s last Republican Century ended in 1962 when Phil Hoff became the first democratic governor in a blue dog’s age. The Republican Party then bore little or no resemblance to… Read More

Our Communities and Ourselves

Having written much about Vermonters, their stories and communities, I am invariably asked if I am a Vermonter, which leads into a discussion about just who is a Vermonter? I’ve… Read More

Why Do We Do This, Again?

Vermonters have again decided in favor of equal rights for its diversifying citizenry. While there are some who see Vermont as The Pied Piper of New England, leading us down… Read More

We Have Opportunities

Vermont has options. In these perilous moments of great change when old things get brittle and break, savvy people design and build new things. There is opportunity in chaos for… Read More

Politics of Fear

We should be wary of political candidates who try to evoke non-specific fears in us about terrorism, impoverishment or racial conflict. They do so to divert us from the rational… Read More

Lazy Politics

First, let me say this is a wholly non-partisan commentary. Having said, that, I was indeed raised in a Democratic family and have always thought of myself as a liberal,… Read More

*Challenges within the Vermont Non-profit Sector

To varying degrees, the needs of a society are met by three de facto socio-economic resources: private sector goods and services, government services and not-for-profit organizations.  I say “organized” only… Read More

Talking about Government

A central, if unspoken, ideological argument today is about government, whether it is good or bad? Government of course is neither. It is simply an organizing principle around which societies… Read More

Where’s the Plan?

There is a “term of art” called the economic development toolbox.” In a “tad da” designed to delight Vermonters weary of plentiful $9.00 per hour jobs, rising fuel and health… Read More

“Something There is that doesn’t love a wall.”

42,000 Vermont tax dollars per year are spent to keep one offender behind a wall. This is four times what the most expensive public school systems spend annually to educate… Read More

Death Penalty

I have been listening to the Supreme Court’s torturous deliberations regarding the concoction of toxic pharmaceuticals our society uses to kill criminals in the states that still believe the death… Read More

Health Care

Sometime in the next decade the US will follow the rest of the civilized world and have some form of national health care system. The lead up however, will be… Read More