At the risk of being thumped by the naysayer club, and before the ugliness of the Lame Duck session puts more gristle in our gruel...
I’ve just gotta say it did my heart good to read in the FP that Burlington College will sell its old facility to COTS for conversion into housing for the homeless rather than cash in on some developer’s dream of luxury condos. There in the accompanying photo was COTS director Rita Markley and President of Burlington College, Jane Sanders, a.k.a. Mrs. Bernie Sanders. No decorative dilettante is this Senator’s wife. Mrs. Sanders is an urban educator with a plain grasp of her community’s needs:
“When we went into the process of selling our property, we talked to a number of community agencies, because we did want our building to continue to serve the population of the city’s Old North End.”
It struck me that this was symbolic of the authentic spirit of social justice that continues to prevail in Vermont despite a decidedly selfish wind that blows through much of the country. Jane Sanders and Burlington College doing a good thing for COTS; Bernie Sanders on the Senate floor; both represent what I like best about Vermont.
Time and again we elect our champions not just to bring us money for roads and infrastructure projects, but also to tell DC that Vermont values social justice. For the most part, they do not disappoint (yeah, I know…ACORN.) That, in itself, is a remarkable thing given the cynical and grasping forces that all but control the agenda in Congress these days. Still our guys persist…in Senator Leahy’s case, for literally decades. They carry with them the collective wisdom of Vermont voters who seem to “get” that positive change doesn’t happen overnight, and that, much as we’d like to think otherwise, no good deed goes unpunished. We may call our reps out every so often, but we know they stand head-and-shoulders above the rest.
Even when much of the country stampedes to the right, we have the good Yankee sense not to toss out the baby with the bathwater.
Lame ducks? Not our guys. They’re in it for the long-haul.
and thanks for saying it
Have followed Bernie’s ascent from the start. Always very focused. Quite a remarkable speaker, love his impassioned Brooklyn-accented rants.
Have run the gamut of the political spectrum & now firmly in the middle but always admired him even when when on the far right & ability to engage voters across party lines.
His impeccable reputation is telling as well. Attempt to get ex to besmirch him backfired. Ha!
There are few ex’s w/o something besmirching to say.
No one has been able to tar him or hang anything around his neck either though I’m sure they have tried.
Although I will not vote Obama, if it’s Palin or her ilk on the other side, I will simply sit it out.
I will not vote for anyone unless moderate & willing to include the everyone in agenda. If against the will of majority (unless it has to do w/civil or human rights) it will never work.
I voted the congressional delegation b/c they work well together, appear dedicated to VTs best interests & came out early against Entergy’s antics.