With the new year and the new Legislature, will this be the year, you visit “your” House, the Vermont Statehouse ?
Vermont's Statehouse, a.k.a., the People's House, is unique in that it's one of the few historic statehouses that is also still used as a facility for legislative action.
More unique is that the Vermont Statehouse and the Legislature are as open and accessible as any in the nation.
No metal detectors, no reserved tickets - just open doors.
The word “sordid” only begins to describe the reality show “the Donald” is directing. Should we choose to learn the lessons being held up for all of us, they start with the words of Lord Acton. “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Those who drafted our Constitution...
The just-concluded primary campaign has created a long list of those deserving my thanks for participating in the exercise of our vibrant Vermont democracy: • My wife, Amelia Struthers, who married into this relationship of public service - service that asks both us and our family to make regular,
Brenda Siegel gets my vote for governor in the Aug. 14 Democratic primary. Her values of hard work and hope within challenging times and circumstances combine well with her studied understanding of Vermont's legislative process. Her frequent presence at the Statehouse over this last biennium speaks to learning from witnessing the process up close and firsthand, as well as advocating for the issues she is called to defend. From her detailed ideas to address the ongoing opioid epidemic to understanding...
Ken Burns's latest historical video narrative, The Vietnam War, reminds many of us of that historical era, the French and U.S. actions, and the proof of philosopher and essayist George Santayana's words, “Those without a sense of history are doomed to repeat it.” The documentary also reminds us of the systemic and righteous mendacity of U.S. leadership, oblivious to the huge ripples of suffering it was inflicting on peoples across the world. Suffering that continues today. And, for what? Even...
With the daily chaos raining down on the nation from the Trump White House, the 2017 state Legislature had to add a Trump Protection Plan to its work focused on Vermonters. Unfortunately, though, that chaos started to leak into the Vermont scene at the end of the session - more on that later. Some of the highlights of the session: • We passed a balanced budget that protects vital services while rejecting Governor Phil Scott's proposed $50 million property tax...
Vermont Democrats are working hard to keep the chaos in Washington, D.C. from seeping into the state's political landscape. The unbalanced budget that Governor Phil Scott has tried to foist on Vermonters, which would also raise property taxes by 7 cents per $100 in valuation, is making it harder to discern differences among the various Trump proposals raining chaos on our nation and our state. In the campaign, candidate Scott offered a moderate theme and spoke of being able to...
One of the great joys of being a state legislator is going into our schools and meeting with students. Those visits are often followed with having them visit the Statehouse, a trip that gives students a sense of history and teaches them what democracy is. One aspect I emphasize is that before we had our democracy, we had a king who gave no voice to the people. That didn't sit well with our ancestors, and we established our democracy -