Vermont Leaders Need to Address Our Problems

A laundry list of every-day issues that the Legislature -- and we -- should discuss

By Bill Schubart

Vermont struggles with a lack of leadership or, at best, a confusion about what leadership is. The fundamentals of leadership are straightforward: A leader listens, elicits diverse opinions and discussion, respects and documents dissent, measures what they hear against a vision for the wellbeing of the commons as opposed to the few, derives consensus, and then has the courage and integrity to act on that consensus even as opposing voices louden or threaten.

Great leaders are both humble and empathetic in the face of conflict, differentiating noise from reality and understanding that advancing the common good outweighs politics and the accretion of further wealth and power.

I have often expressed admiration for Governor Scott’s leadership during the Covid pandemic and his willingness to follow the science (if only that had been true nationally). He generally did well during the recent flooding as well. But on the critical beats that affect the daily lives of Vermonters, he’s largely AWOL, prating on about “affordability,” a general term that anyone can appreciate, as it applies to all of our life transactions, but one that does nothing to address the underlying issues that drive it:

• Gov. Scott vetoes Hotel/Motel homeless bill, H.91

• Gov. Scott vetoes collective bargaining bill

• Gov. Scott vetoes H.219 An act relating to establishing the Department of Corrections’ Family Support Program

I won’t replicate the volumes of daily reporting about the general failure of Vermont’s elected governing body to achieve much of anything. Most legislators have shown themselves to be good and committed Vermonters working hard with scant resources and compensation to make sense of the vastly complex and interwoven issues plaguing Vermonters.

But we face many issues, large and small, that should be part of discussions in both the State House and in our own community of Hinesburg. To prompt discussion, here’s a draft menu for leaders, politicians, and citizens.

1. Public education: Equitable tax-based financing (income, property & sales tax; something needs to be done and at press time a compromise was nearing in the State House); consolidating “child-care” into a single system that includes a paid six-month bonding period for one parent at birth and voluntary entrance into a public system run by early childhood development professionals, becoming mandatory at age five through 18 and extending to life-long learning with:

• objective quality assessment driving teacher pay-for-performance;

• integrating special ed and diverse pedagogy protocols;

• statewide options to pursue conventional education or diversify at 14 to vocational and STEM tech center curriculum;

• determine appropriate school location relative to home and community; and

• ban smart-phone use during school.

2. Healthcare: sustainable infrastructure, regulatory oversight, financial transparency, monopoly reduction, sustainability of health insurance companies and nonprofit agencies, hospitals held accountable to standards of quality, access and affordability, and expanded community-based services:

• universal home visits;

• trauma-informed primary care;

• chronic disease management;

• local mental health counseling;

• home-health, nutrition counseling and hospice;

• residential addiction treatment capacity;

• age-well resources; and

• develop/deploy in-school curriculum on self-care.

3. Criminal Justice: public safety, courts, corrections “halfway” houses, and restorative justice:

• consolidate policing under state; shared-community; single statewide investigative unit

• restrict gun ownership and carry laws(firearms are the leading cause of U.S. pediatric deaths)

• expand court system and number of judges to accommodate the 6th amendment obligation to provide a speedy public trial;

• adequately fund the defender general system;

• disallow private prisons in Vermont and hold out-of-state contract prisons accountable to Vermont standards including healthcare; and

• do not automatically re-incarcerate parolees for “technical violations.”

4. Social economy: redefine “affordability”:

• bring “poverty” metrics into the real world;

• fund affordable housing construction, co-housing and communal living for older and younger working people;

• shelter homeless year-round: home-share, motels, and co-housing with services;

• along with agriculture and food systems, address hunger; and

• redefine an appropriate “livable” wage rather than the “minimum” wage framework.

5. Agriculture and food systems:

• support regenerative/local farming rather than industrial farms;

• ban all poisonous chemical and plastic soil, water and air additives;

• expand school gardens to support school meals programs and acquaint young people with raising healthy food;

• address epic food waste in our retail food stores and homes; and

• enforce humane living and slaughtering standards for all farm-raised species.

6. Transportation: public and private partnerships:

• support light-rail growth;

• increase van network;

• encourage ride-sharing;

• encourage EV deployment;

• walkable town and urban development; and

• expand bike and walking trail path network.

7. Environmental protection and remediation:

• discourage lawns and mowing in favor of natural habitat;

• require home or community composting;

• enforce planned reductions in fossil-fuel use;

• encourage public/private investments in solar wind and light hydro;

• promote garment recycling, repair, and reuse;

• require safe return of all OTC and prescribed pharmaceuticals;

• require consumer goods companies to include packaging costs in goods to encourage consumers to buy with less packaging; and

• boycott retailers that sell the majority of goods in plastic packaging.

8. Taxation and regulation:

• review Vermont’s tax code with an eye towards more progressive taxation;

• tax luxury services as well as sales and property;

• set limits on legislative “lobbying” and corrupt influence-peddling;

• articulate the benefit of taxation and regulation in support of the common good;

• tax sugar-based junk food and ultraprocessed foods;

• increase taxes on alcohol and tobacco, ban flavored vapes; and

• maintain decriminalization of homegrown THC but suspend commercial growers and distribution because of new medical evidence that there are no standards for THC strength and that titration withdrawal can lead to psychotic events.

9. Government systems: executive, legislative, and judiciary:

• derive a common understanding of leadership and hold executives accountable to it in elections;

• redesign the Vermont Legislature as a unicameral body with enhanced resources (Joint Fiscal and Legislative Counsel), livable compensation and common benefits linked to the average income of their statewide constituents; and

• expand court system and judges to accommodate 6th amendment obligation to provide a speedy public trial.

I invite you to add items to this list of challenges that need discussion and action by Vermonters.