Okay, let me preface this with the following: I love politics. I love elections. With Canada just to the north of us, and the unique, enigma that is Quebec our most influential trading partner, I’ve always wondered one thing…

While politics can stretch across state lines (i.e. the mythos that all of New England is a liberal sanctuary, or the common knowledge of the leanings of the Pacific Coast states, etc), why is it, with such ties across the country, why does a small, formerly unimportant border cause politics in Stanstead, QC to elect social democrats like the Bloc Quebecois and now the NDP candidate who swept the riding yet politics in Essex County (and the Northeast Kingdom on the whole) to trend centre to centre-right?

I <3 musings.

Also, the NDP nationally did amazingly well. The Bloc is basically gone, the Greens may finally have a seat in Parliament, the Liberals have their lowest share in history, and the Conservatives have their first majority government. Man, this is so cool to watch.

In the 4th Article of the United States’ Constitution, it is declared that all states have a “Republican form of government”. This forces upon the state government that it be elected by the people, and that it serve the interests of the people. In Vermont, as with all other 50 states and the several dependencies, this has tended to come with a bicameral legislature (or just unicameral, in a single case), a governor, a lieutenant governor, and a system for elections that oftentimes closes down any third party opposition. Some governments are dutifully trying to do what is right as in our state, while others are trying to force a rewriting of history, as we’ve seen in states like Arizona and Wisconsin.

While I can’t complain about Vermont’s political landscape (hell, even the secessionists and liberty union crowd make the place fun), I can, and will complain that our system isn’t quite as perfect as we’d like it to be. I suppose, with my limited understanding on the formation of government, and the political powers in the state, I’ll try to show you what I think our state should operate, at least on an electoral and legislative level. (I might delve into what I do know some of, which is the economics of it. Might.)

I won’t mince words, I don’t think the primary system we have in our state works. I believe the progressives in Burlington were onto something when IRV (instant runoff voting) was implemented, and I was saddened when it was stripped from the city for merely political reasons, stripping the people of the city a real opportunity to choose in an election. I think the IRV should be taken statewide, to every office, from the town and the village, to Montpelier, St. Albans, to Rutland and beyond. A statewide election system based on IRV gives a political party (or independents) more of a chance than the current system. With this, a flow of ideas, the kind of flow that makes Vermont great, can become even more powerful. Without the trade of ideas, we’ll become stagnant, I don’t particularly want to see that.

So, IRV still is within the “Republican form of government” required by Article 4.

Next, Vermont should reform its bicameral legislature, into parliamentary assemblies. I’ll admit, this idea makes IRV look palatable to even people like the ones at Vermont Tiger. In this concept, there wouldn’t be the separation of a head-of-state and a head-of-government. The head of state would also be the head of government, in other words, the powers that Governor Shumlin has today, a Premier Shumlin would have in this scenario. What would change, is the role of the Lieutenant Governor, while in Vermont we sometimes have a Batman of one party to a Robin from another, a parliamentary system would dictate that the Lieutenant Governor be positioned either through a coalition government or a popular vote (through IRV) by the parliamentary assembly. In this case, it would still be possible that Phil Scott could be the Lieutenant Governor under Peter Shumlin, but his odds are diminshed. I do realize that at this point, Vermont would look like a one party state, but my belief is that redistricting, along with instant runoff voting, that not only will Democrats return to office in large numbers, but Republicans in the rural parts of the state could win seats they’ve lost in the last few cycles, and the Progressives will move out of their traditional strongholds. This includes motions of confidence, snap elections, and a fluid political system even more responsive to the Vermont voter.

There should be citizen juries, where a committee of chosen (at random, much like a jury trial) Vermont citizens are given petitions and referendums and give a report on the issues and suggest to the parliament action or inaction on the filings before them. The citizen juries would likely have the lottery two months after an election (whether snap or not) to give time to the new (or re-elected) government time to form their cabinet.

In this electoral change, campaign spending, filing, and finance laws need to be completely transparent. Where is money moving from, where is it moving to, and what mediums is it being spent on. Personally, in this if a candidate raises more than $10,000.00 in a race for the state legislature or statewide office, any amount over 10,000.00 goes into the rainy day fund (regardless of party). The remainder can be spent in the lull between elections, with quarterly filings. Could we also have a sort of CSPAN for this parliament (or for this legislature, anyway)? VT Digger and the BFP do a good job, but it’s not quite wall-to-wall coverage on the government.

For the economic aspect of this, all the letterheads will be changed, the wiki will be edited, but we should use a popular referendum to create Offices of Trade to our top 10 international trading partners, to secure deals on energy and goods that give the next generation of citizens a fair shake at an evolving world. That is, if it passes.

I think this is all I want to type for now. This might be a series.

This country is run by interests more powerful than we. At large, we are a powerless constituency of less-than-fortunate, less socially endowed citizens who push for LGBT equality, immigration reform, a tax system that is fair to lower income households. Our hopes and dreams are held captive by a system that is more willing to cast us to the wolves than give our ideas a fair chance in debate.

One. One Senator stood up yesterday and called out the egregious state of America, in eight and a half hours we were shown that the representation of liberals, progressives, democratic socialists and democrats in the Senate is limited to one man. One.

Against the best advice, they cut a deal on the 2001 Bush tax cuts that were sold to the American public as expired as of this year. The deal was for unemployment insurance benefits for two million people. The Republicans and blue-dog Democrats held us hostage because they feel empowered enough to do so. The DREAM Act came up for a vote in the Senate and it died. A threat of an unconstitutional act, the Filibuster, killed a bill that received more than a majority of votes. They profess that they’re for progress, but the last two years has shown me that they’re no longer a party for progress. The two parties have become one.

We’ve lost the power to sway our government, I fear the corporations and wealthiest have won.

The president has lost my vote. I was willing to give him a chance after Afghanistan was escalated, after Guantanamo continued operations, after the awful health care bill, and after the stimulus failed to produce a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank. His chances are used.

I unequivocally accept a democratic primary opponent from the left in 2012.

I came across a story just a few moments ago. A woman in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania was jailed for getting pregnant, then died in prison due a lack of medical attention. There’s no need to wax poetic on the injustice, she was denied not only a woman’s right to be pregnant, but herhuman rights altogether.

You see, getting pregnant violated her probation and as a result she was jailed. While she was in jail she developed advanced pneumonia and even though she pleaded with the guards for weeks, she went ignored and died from the sickness, both her and her baby died from medical neglect.

Honestly, this is something I expect to hear in a country whose code of laws are stuck in the 13th century, not the United States.

What is equally disturbing as her medical neglect, is how she violated her probation: by getting pregnant. Pregnant, for Christ’s sake. A woman has her reproductive rights, and I don’t know how there is a place in this country that halts reproductive rights and makes getting pregnant a crime. In the most unfortunate of circumstances this woman was denied her basic human rights of reproduction and medical treatment.

I’m going to stop here only because I’m getting more infuriated and less coherent with my thoughts. Jesus.

There’s no smooth way to transition into this, so I’ll go into it as slick as I possibly can:

As Vermonters, why do you think we aren’t facing the same kind of ethnic sectionalism that other states face today and have faced in the past (much like ours from the 1880s to the 1940s)?

Also, the largest ethnic bloc in Vermont is the French/French-Canadian population, with that – why do you think Vermont has never had a French governor in its near 220 year history?

I could sit here and explain my views, being Irish, French-Canadian, and Puerto Rican… but I’m far more interested in what you all think.

In Vermont, there is an issue that has little middle ground: the aging nuclear plant in Vernon, Vermont Yankee. Often people are either for its continuted operation, or against it. The Governor-Elect, Peter Shumlin, has stated time and time again that he is against it operating beyong 2012. This is an admirable position, given that Vermont Yankee has a serious leak for what seems like every month that 2010 has been a year. There is only one problem with this issue: Where are we going to get the 600-or-so megawatts (mw) that Entergy’s Vermont Yankee plant produces?

First off, let’s pretend that NIMBYs don’t exist (not that I have anything against them) and that we all have consensus on using existing wind and hydroelectric structures to avoid throwing windmills on Mount Mansfield or Camel’s Hump or a line of turbines from Quebec to Massachusetts. Work with me here, let’s play pretend.

Now that that’s settled, by 2013 we will likely be without a plant that generates 605mw of power, and according to this report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), during summer peak hours Vermont uses around 1,127mw of power. So for the summer months (which are getting hotter lately, but that’s another topic), Vermont will have a deficit of power in the 500mw-600mw range. One concern I have is, can we make up that deficit with alternative energies instead of buying back into the larger New England energy market? It’s possible. Vermont, per capita pays 15.27 cents per kilowatthour, while our neighbors in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and New York pay 16.11, 14.71, and 19.58, respectively. I wouldn’t consider New York as a reasonable example to where Vermont could go concerning costs, given that there are a lot of separate factors in New York that raise the price that Vermont just doesn’t have to deal with.

So, much like a budget shortfall, there could be a 600mw energy deficit. Let’s look at the energy potential of solar, wind, and hydro:

For solar and wind, the potential is muted. but caps out before 100mw (I’m rushing this before work, so I’ll find the math again later with links). But with it solar and wind, there is more of a possibility that an individual could themself be an energy producer. That’s not to say that there aren’t projects out there today. There are scattered wind projects and impressive solar projects like Green Mountain Power’s “10,000 panels in 1,000 days”. These projects make me pretty hopeful that utility companies in Vermont know what’s up for Vermont’s future.

Hydroelectric power for Vermont is the 800-pound gorilla in the room. This PDF file lists 45 towns with dams that have a hydro potential. If used at an average capacity, Vermont could have up to 527mw replaced by hydroelectric dams in existence today. (The stat comes from this powerpoint that UVM hosts, I’ll admit that it’s not a strong piece of evidence.) Unfortunately, Vermont allowed the sale of several dams back in the mid-2000s to TransCanada, which is now fighting the estimated value of the dams.

So, are we going to buy into the larger New England market, or are we going to be the leader we know we can be in alternative energy?

I rushed this too much.

There’s a message in the 2010 elections in Vermont that is surprisingly not being truly talked about. In the days following the election, political analysts and newspapers repeated the very real point of the elections that Vermont “was just about totally immune from the wave that swept the country“, according to Chris Graff, former journalist and political commentator (VT Digger: GOP Losing Ground in Vermont). While it’s true that Vermont elected a democratic governor for the first time in eight years, and the “supermajorities” of both Houses were returned to the Democrats, the concept that the Republicans and Tea Party activists in Vermont made no substantial ground is unfortunately wrong.

For example, take the one senate seat that was lost to a Republican. In Caledonia county the race was defined with two democratic incumbents, Senator Jane Kitchel and Senator Matt Choate. Senator Kitchel came in the race as a heavy favorite, but her freshman colleague, Senator Choate, was seen as potentially losing the seat he won two years ago. For their opponents, Charlie Bucknam and Joe Benning each had felt like they would have a chance at knocking off Senator Choate and were hoping to high hell that they would manage to take Senator Kitchel’s seat. And they would have, if it wasn’t for that meddling Bud Otterman.

Two years ago, longtime House Republican for the Caledonia-Orange 1 district lost his race to a political newcomer. Not content with spending nearly 40 years in public service, the popular former Representative, Harvey “Bud” Otterman, decided to run as an independent for the Caledonia senate. In his run, he muddied up the waters a bit. Democrats felt like they had a better chance since a popular, kitchen-table name had jumped in on the center-right vote. Whatever happened, town-by-town, the hopes were dashed. Bud Otterman’s campaign was a blessing in disguise, but it wasn’t as effectual as it was hoped. Jane Kitchel won re-election by four-hundred or so votes, (the now Senator-Elect) Joe Benning took second place by edging incumbent Choate out by 137 votes, who beat Charlie Bucknam by only 215. And where is Bud Otterman in all this? Dead last, of course. His campaign never had the energy behind it that the other campaigns had (not to mention, the Tea Party support from the same group in Orange county that hosted statewide candidates like Len Britton, Paul Beaudry, and Ken Stern), but being dead last saved the leading democratic candidate, Jane Kitchel.

When all the votes were certified, Bud Otterman came in with 1,798 votes. It is not unrealistic to imagine that the votes an extremely popular former Republican like Otterman received were siphoned off of the republican candidates. Had Otterman not run, Caledonia county could have very well seen the rise of two Tea Party republicans, not just one.

Unfortunately, this isn’t a lone situation. Although they didn’t take very many seats, the Tea Party and Vermont’s “new” GOP (or whatever it is, it isn’t the Snelling/Jeffords GOP that used to exist in New England), isn’t dead. It is far from dead. Yes, a state as blue as Vermont re-elected a legislature that is truly blue, and while the state did elect a democratic state Senator as governor (only so, in my opinion, five-thousand votes isn’t a huge margin), there are signs in the state that show that the GOP and the TP aren’t dead, but one election does not a pattern make, so I guess we’ll have to see what 2012 brings for our tiny state.

(By the way, I do know that this example only extends itself to Caledonia county, I’m currently pouring over the results posting on the Secretary of State‘s website for other examples, but I might have to wait until recounts are done to be sure.)