| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Pulver" |
| Date: |
13 Nov 2003 08:52:12 AM |
| Object: |
Dean too green for White House |
Vermont's Dean too green for White House
by Jonah Goldberg
Since so many people seem to think Howard Dean would
make a great president, I wonder if they might be
willing to vote for the county commissioner of Dekalb,
Ga., instead? How about the guy or gal who administers
Jefferson County, Ala.? Or Hidalgo, Texas?
All of these places have bigger populations than
Vermont. They - and dozens of other counties - are not
only bigger, but they're more diverse, more dynamic
economically and culturally and, in many ways, more
difficult to govern than the idyllic Green Mountain
State. Indeed, after visiting the state for a recent
article for National Review, it seems to me an
indisputable proposition that the mayor of Baltimore
has a much more difficult job description than the
governor of Vermont. When confronted with the fact that
Vermont is teeny-weeny, Howard Dean typically replies
that Bill Clinton was governor of a small state, too,
when he was elected president. That's true, but
Arkansas is still some four times more populous and far
more economically and ethnically diverse than Vermont.
Arkansas - a border state in the American Southwest,
close to the demographic and political center of the
country - also has something Vermont doesn't: a fairly
representative political culture.
Vermont, on the other hand, has opted for self-imposed
exile on the political margins of the nation. How so?
Well, for the past 30 years, wealthy liberals, mainly
from New York and Massachusetts, have moved to Vermont
while the flinty traditional Vermonters of yore have
moved out or been politically marginalized. These
immigrants are called Flatlanders by the traditional
denizens of the state. And the Flatlanders are bent on
making Vermont an Epcot Center exhibit of Green
socialism.
It is the political tastes of these neo-Vermonters,
far more than Jim Jeffords' principles or conscience,
that explain why the senator decided to bolt the
Republican Party.
But a better illustration of Vermont's transformation
is the state's Act 250, an environmental law passed in
1970. Its supporters claim it saved Vermont from
vaguely defined ecological doom. Its critics say it's
an attempt to make the state hospitable to limousine
liberals from New York and trendy couples whose idea of
farming is renovating a barn so they can appear in
Architectural Digest.
Under Act 250, the gauntlet of regulations developers
need to go through in order to receive a permit for
just about anything is similar to the barrage of kicks
and punches gang members receive when they try to leave
the gang. The only difference is that with gangs, each
member gets only one whack at the victim as he passes
by. Act 250 requires building-permit seekers to comply
with 10 different criteria - in areas involving
environmental, social and aesthetic factors - and
there's no end to the appeals environmentalists and
spoilers can level on any of these fronts.
Because the University of Vermont is something of a
madrassa for environmental extremism - churning out
armies of activists who fan out across the country -
and because so many rich liberals have bought houses
there, the political pressure to freeze the state in
amber is immense. In fact, in 1993, during the debate
over whether Wal-Mart would be allowed in Vermont, the
National Trust for Historic Preservation designated the
entire state an "endangered historic place." That would
all be fine except for the fact it's all nonsense - in
1850, Vermont was 35 percent forested, today it's 76
percent and rising - and, worse, it's hurting average
Vermonters who actually wouldn't mind getting a good
job.
Bernie Sanders, the state's sole congressman - and an
avowed socialist - constantly blames Vermont's
hemorrhaging of jobs on NAFTA and other leftist
bugaboos. But the fact is that most of the
manufacturing jobs leaving Vermont go to New York,
Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The anti-development
climate has gotten so bad that when IBM opted to open a
new plant in Fishkill, N.Y. rather than invest in
Vermont, the Burlington Free Press celebrated the move
as a victory: "Even die-hard supporters of economic
development sighed in relief when IBM announced its new
chip plant would be built in New York State," the paper
editorialized. "Had the jobs come here, there would
have been no place for workers to live."
Sure, it's true that Howard Dean - a flatlander from
Park Avenue and ritzy East Hampton - is more of a
centrist than many of his critics are willing to
concede. But he is a centrist in an increasingly
off-center state. He may be a moderate for Vermont, but
that doesn't make him a moderate anywhere save perhaps
for places like San Francisco or Cambridge, Mass.
More to the point, Dean thinks that Vermont is a model
for the whole country. But a virtually all-white state
with no crime, almost no immigration and an economic
philosophy that rests on the health of the ski
industry, the demand for Ben & Jerry's ice cream and
the continuing influx of millionaire immigrants may not
be the best North Star for a heterogeneous nation of
300 million people.
© 2002, TMS
Posted by Permission
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| User: "PagCal" |
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| Title: Re: Dean too green for White House |
13 Nov 2003 11:45:48 AM |
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Humm, ever smelled a wif-o-vermont air and compare that
with what you get on the NJ turnpike down by Bayone.
I'll take Vermont any day (and my lungs will too)!
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| User: "Tom Aldrich" |
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| Title: Re: Dean too green for White House |
13 Nov 2003 11:54:27 AM |
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PagCal wrote:
Humm, ever smelled a wif-o-vermont air and compare that
with what you get on the NJ turnpike down by Bayone.
I'll take Vermont any day (and my lungs will too)!
The sooner we practice population control the better.
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| User: "The Ghost In The Machine" |
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| Title: Population Control (was Re: Dean too green for White House) |
15 Nov 2003 10:59:41 AM |
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In alt.politics.usa.misc, Tom Aldrich
<TomAlrich@usenetserver.com>
wrote
on Thu, 13 Nov 2003 11:54:27 -0600
<3FB3C553.7DF1ECAF@usenetserver.com>:
PagCal wrote:
Humm, ever smelled a wif-o-vermont air and compare that
with what you get on the NJ turnpike down by Bayone.
I'll take Vermont any day (and my lungs will too)!
The sooner we practice population control the better.
Great. Got any specifics? The only one I have is condom
distribution (and usage) and/or abortion and/or birth
control, all of which are vehemently opposed by certain
fringe subgroups.
(hint: look up "eugenics")
--
#191,
It's still legal to go .sigless.
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| User: "BW" |
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| Title: Re: Dean too green for White House |
15 Nov 2003 11:06:22 AM |
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"The Ghost In The Machine" <ewill@sirius.athghost7038suus.net> wrote in
message news:7r1i81-rtb.ln1@lexi2.athghost7038suus.net...
In alt.politics.usa.misc, Tom Aldrich
<TomAlrich@usenetserver.com>
wrote
on Thu, 13 Nov 2003 11:54:27 -0600
<3FB3C553.7DF1ECAF@usenetserver.com>:
PagCal wrote:
Humm, ever smelled a wif-o-vermont air and compare that
with what you get on the NJ turnpike down by Bayone.
I'll take Vermont any day (and my lungs will too)!
The sooner we practice population control the better.
Great. Got any specifics? The only one I have is condom
distribution (and usage) and/or abortion and/or birth
control, all of which are vehemently opposed by certain
fringe subgroups.
Well, there's a few more:
Planned Parenthood - they support the wholesale slaughter of live human
beings in the womb
Muslim Terrorists - managed to kill off 3,000+ Americans in a single day
Saddam Hussein - created nice mass graves for thousands of Iraqis to sleep
in
Hitler - purged the world of 2 million Jews
the atheist Stalin - purged the world of about 60 million Russians
liberals and Democrats - urged the United States to Cut N' Run in Vietnam,
which then allowed for the slaughter of approximately 1.5 million Cambodians
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