Opinion

For opinion pieces on any topic.

My Conscience is a Thought Crime

by CCM Holland Mills | Op/Ed

This is a reply to The Shalom Alliance’s piece printed two weeks ago in The Commons (https://www.commonsnews.org/issue/814/814000_shalom-alliance) and last week in The Reformer:

The imps infesting the Ministry of Truth giggled with glee as they read The Shalom Alliance’s clarion call for censorship during the barbaric starvation of Arab babies nine months old barely weighing two pounds more.  The laughably obnoxious notion of the ADL as arbiter of speech is despicably anti-American, akin to last week’s House panel on campus antisemitism, McCarthy’s HUAC reincarnate demanding young souls decrying genocide be vilified as the new commies deserving the harshest of penalties personal and professional.

There Is A Way to Preserve Medicaid and Medicare Funding But Democrats & Republicans Don’t Want You To Know How!

by Cris Ericson | Op/Ed

“When you throw 13 million people off health insurance, when you raise co-payments for poor people, it is a death sentence,” says Senator Bernie Sanders on the Republican plan to cut Medicaid. “Thousands and thousands of low-income and working people will die because they simply will not be able to get into a doctor’s office when they need it.” May 14, 2025

The Republicans and the Democrats don’t want you to know that there could be plenty of money for Medicaid and Medicare if the United States Congress votes to repeal and get rid of the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 which changed U.S. Patent law.

Debate Today May 14, 2025 in U.S. House on Articles of Impeachment Against President Trump

by Cris Ericson | Politics

After debate on H.R. 2243, the House will begin debate on H.Res. 352.
After debate on H.Res. 352, the House is expected to recess.
At approximately 5:00 p.m., the House will take a second series of votes on the Motion to Table H.Res. 353 – Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors, passage of H.R. 2243, and adoption of H.Res. 353 – under suspension of the Rules.

Wikipedia Editors Not Honest

by Cris Ericson | Op/Ed

With Pakistan and India both having nuclear weapons, we need to know the truth about nuclear capable F-35 strike fighter jets.

Bernie Sanders did not tell the truth about the F-35 strike fighter jets capability in a televised political candidate years ago. Cris Ericson was running against him and was in the televised debate. Bernie Sanders said that the F-35 strike fighter jets have no nuclear components. Cris Ericson said that he was committing fraud to get votes because the F-35 strike fighter jets are dual capable to carry nuclear bombs.

Brattleboro District 9 Forum

by fidel | Politics

District 9 residents in Brattleboro are cordially invited to attend a forum to express their opinions about the revised budget prepared for a special Representative Town Meeting (RTM); the new budget is intended to replace an earlier version that was voted down by RTM and will, if approved, guide spending in the next fiscal year which begins 1 July.

The forum will be held in the Community Room (third floor) of the Brooks Memorial Library at 7 pm on Wednesday 14 May. RTM members from District 9 are encouraged to attend to hear their constituents’ opinions.

Reflections on the “White Christian Nationalism” Event at Putney Meeting House

by PeytonE | Op/Ed

*A Letter from the Heart to Mike Mrowicki, Rev. Sparrow, and the Interfaith Community*

An interfaith initiative titled “White Christian Nationalism” recently circulated in Vermont, culminating in a gathering at the Putney Meeting House, led by Representative Mike Mrowicki and Reverend Sparrow. Everyone was friendly, and I believe well-intentioned. But the initiative, sadly, fell into the same trap we’ve seen repeated again and again: othering. Not just in whispers, but woven into the framing itself — casting Christian conservatives as the threat, and “tolerant liberals” as the solution.

Disconnected

by RDavis | Politics

Elected politicians, on all the levels, and the people who support government on a daily basis often have nothing in common. There are no requirements to run for office except for age in some instances. It is one of the great elements of democracy and, for better or worse, we end up with people in power who may have no understanding of how government works. If they have enough money they can win office and once they are in it is hard to get rid of them, That is also what democracy is about.

As we lose our democracy on a national level this disconnect could not be clearer. Trump and Musk have no interest in learning what all the people do who actually do the work of our government. If they even had a shred of interest in trying to understand how government agencies work they might have somehow found a little bit of common sense and talked to all these people and asked them how they might be more efficient.

Selectboard Meeting Review – Five Hours of Avoiding the Topic

by cgrotke | Op/Ed

Over five hours and the agenda topic – possible reductions in public safety services – was barely discussed by the board. There were over 70 items on the list to be discussed that didn’t get much of a mention.

Tuesday’s meeting seemed designed to prevent the board from having an on-topic discussion. It was stuffed with information previously presented and comments already taken. The people we most wanted to hear from – new board members – didn’t get to have a robust discussion, and their limited discussion didn’t begin until well after 10 pm. 

At tomorrow’s meeting, the new members will be told that they are out of time and have to go with the budget as presented.  They will be told it is their budget. Buck will be passed back to them now for RTM.

My Response to United States Senator Bernie Sanders “Fighting Oligarchy” Tour with AOC

by Cris Ericson | Op/Ed

“By Christina Bellantoni Posted April 22, 2025 on ROLL CALL.com “LOS ANGELES — Sen. Bernie Sanders came and went, with two California visits inspiring “Bernie-chella” headlines. He, his populist heiress — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — and organizers of their “Fighting Oligarchy” event in downtown Los Angeles boasted that at 36,000, it was the largest rally he’d ever held.””

Proposed Bill To Improve Tourism In Vermont During 2025 Summer of Stock Market Crisis

by Cris Ericson | Politics

Any citizen can draft a proposed bill in Vermont, but only members of the Vermont General Assembly (the House of Representatives and the Senate) can introduce it for consideration.

The Vermont citizen needs to pray that any member of the House or Senate will be willing to introduce the bill.

It is proving to be a concerning statistic that in cities across the United States of America where homeless unsheltered people live, in view of tourists who cringe in sympathy, that this upsets tourists so much that they are now avoiding places where homeless people are suffering in plain sight.

Open Letter to Governor Scott Regarding Homelessness

by Norsehorse | Politics

Dear Governor Scott,

State of Vermont

It boggles the mind how your administration can be so deliberately indifferent and uncaring when it comes to those who are being or already have been evicted from the Vermont Hotel/Motel Program without those persons having anywhere else safe and secure to go inside, day or night.

The rationale used by your administration for not allowing everyone to stay in the program who are currently eligible as well as clearly in need and most vulnerable does not wash, nor does it pass the straight face test, either.

The fact is that it actually costs much more in terms of fiscal (read: funding), human, medical and other social related matters to do nothing for those the state could and should be assisting more humanely.

The Game of Government

by Lise | Op/Ed

Just for fun, let’s regard the government as a game.

It is, in a way. There are rules, roles, and regalia, a bank, an army, real estate. You could construct any number of exciting board games from this apparatus. In order to play the game of government, you are presented with a rule book that you are required to follow. You are not allowed to tear up the rule book and make your own rules that you then insist are binding to all other players. As is true of every game there is, from checkers to baseball, if you persist in breaking the rules of the game, you are disqualified from playing.

Town of Brattleboro Budget-Cutting Scenarios Win Award for Short Fiction

by cgrotke | Op/Ed

I was going to do an April Fools’ story, but the Town of Brattleboro beat me to it. : )

The Town Manager has provided the Brattleboro Selectboard with an extensive overview of current town operations. Along with it, he provided a number of dramatic scenarios that could unfold if the new selectboard dared to make any cuts to the town budget.

These doomsday scenarios are really something.  Department heads were asked to provide examples of what could happen if some unspecified cuts were undertaken. These were then tossed in the “make scary” machine.

God of Democracy Where Art Thou?

by spoon | Op/Ed

The Charter Revision Commission is making its public debut on Monday, the 30th, in the Library at 6 pm. And online too.  After two and a quarter years it is introducing itself by asking the public what to do about one particular question: should Representative Town Meeting vote itself out of existence and revert Town Meeting to the former and more common open meeting style.  

I have not seen any of the evidence it has gathered pro and con but perhaps they will share that at the meeting itself though at that point perhaps not as useful as it might be.  Presumably they have gathered evidence inasmuch as that is what Charter Revision Commissions are appointed to do.  

Phil Scott Putting Homeless Pregnant Women Out of the Motel Program

by Cris Ericson | Op/Ed

What a jerk!

Homeless Women Less Than 6 Months Pregnant Will Be Kicked Out Of Motel Program 

From Burlington Free Press: “March 29, 2025 Republican Gov. Phil Scott has signed an executive order allowing families with children under age 19 and “medically vulnerable” Vermonters who face eviction from hotel and motel rooms on April 1 to remain in the state’s General Assistance program through June 30. Pregnant women in their third trimester or who will enter their third trimester between April 1 and June 30 are among those who qualify as “medically vulnerable.”

President Donald Trump Signs Executive Order Re: Department of Education

by Cris Ericson | Op/Ed

Ah! Of course! Education should only be for the rich, and closing the federal department of EDUCATION will help to reduce the flow of our tax dollars to teaching illegal migrant children English, and it will help reduce the flow of our tax dollars to teach children with Downe’s Syndrome that they CAN hold down a respectable job, nothing fancy, but something to give them a worthwhile contribution to society, after all, who can serve you food at a restaurant, who can clean toilets, who can hold a sign to beware of workers during highway repairs, who can make bars of soap in a factory?

O.K., so I had a cousin who is now buried in Jericho, Vermont and his mother, my great Aunt Annie Ericson Wheeler, worked sooooooooo hard for so many years for the right of kids just like him to have an EDUCATION.

Attack From The Left

by RDavis | Op/Ed

Disguised as socially responsible budget cutting, the anti-government juggernaut has come to little Brattleboro, Vermont. Don’t be fooled. This is the 2025 version of the Trojan Horse. Our town only has 12,000 people but recently factions have formed to override the decisions of the selectboard as well as trying to push back on an increased police presence after safety issues were identified.

What appears to be a sizeable faction does not want to see the town pass any kind of ordinance that would restrict socially unacceptable behavior because they feel it would unduly target the more vulnerable people in town.

In addition, they want Brattleboro to continue to be an outlier in relation to towns in Vermont as well as around the country by allocating two percent or more of the overall budget to support human service organizations. That amounts to over $400,000. Most towns have either eliminated this support or cut it drastically.

Brattleboro Needs Responsible Budgeting—Not a More-than-12% Tax Hike and Deferred Maintenance

by IsaacEF | Politics

The Selectboard’s proposed budget raises property taxes by more than 12% and defers expenses—setting residents up for even higher taxes down the road. And over the past several months the Selectboard has chosen to deplete Town funds to hire new positions and cover new expenses. Brattleboro’s Representative Town Meeting (RTM) Finance Committee recently issued a clear warning: The Selectboard must take a more responsible approach to budgeting. I agree. We need longer term financial planning and political courage for responsible budgeting, and the Selectboard and Representative Town Meeting can help us get there.

The Selectboard placed an opinion poll on the March 4th ballot regarding the 2% of the Town budget allocated for human services. But there’s another 98% we need to consider. That’s where the biggest opportunities are for savings.The Selectboard should have taken the Finance Committee’s recommendations seriously. The committee exists to advise Representative Town Meeting members—the ultimate deciders on the budget. To increase the chances of the budget passing, the Selectboard should carefully consider the Finance Committee’s guidance.The Finance Committee expressed concern about the lack of a long-term financial plan and called on the Selectboard to direct the town manager to present a list of potential staff cuts for the coming budget and to identify cuts and deferrals that will likely reappear a year from now when we are considering the following year’s budget. The outgoing Selectboard chose not to implement any of these recommendations.

Declaration of Independence From the Arbitrary Rule of Tyrant Elon Musk

by Cris Ericson | Politics

I HEREBY DECLARE A NEW 2025
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
FROM the ARBITRARY RULE OF TYRANT ELON MUSK, advisor to President Donald Trump
Declaration of Independence from all orders, usurpations of our tax dollars, directives and firings and threats by Elon Musk!

WE THE PEOPLE of the United States of America declare that
when in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.