Editor’s note: This commentary is by state Sen. Joe Benning, a Republican who represents the Caledonia-Orange District in the Vermont Senate.
Anyone involved in Vermont politics needs to have a thick skin, and this essay speaks to that. But first a little exposure to the daily life of a legislator is in order.
My legislative week starts before dawn when I begin my hour and 10 minute commute to the Statehouse. For the next 15 or so hours I’m helping design legislation to deal with very complicated issues, like a $100 million deficit, rising property taxes, murdered children under DCF watch, gun rights, a stagnant economy, job losses, broken roads and cuts to critical services. I’m also responding to countless constituents who seek legislative assistance long after I’ve returned home. I also have a day job, which means my former trial lawyer work week gets compressed into Saturday through Monday. It amounts to a pretty tough schedule.
Mind you, I’m not complaining. I actually love the job. But when somebody sends me a missive in response to a bill they don’t like, usually written in capital letters and loaded with expletives, which accuses me of not having anything better to do with my time, I tend to want to respond with my own capitalized expletives. Thankfully, my spouse keeps me in check.
Into one such maelstrom stepped Angela, an eighth grade constituent taking Latin at Riverside School in Lyndonville. She wondered why Vermont didn’t have a Latin motto, like a number of other states do. She proposed re-adopting the Latin phrase “Stella Quarta Decima,” the phrase stamped on Vermont’s first coin while we were still an independent republic. It translates into “The Fourteenth Star,” expressing Vermont’s desire to become the 14th state.
I’m happy to say Angela and her parents are handling this tumult as a lesson every child needs to learn in order to succeed in life.
Angela was not suggesting that our English motto (Freedom & Unity) be replaced. She was not asking to change the state seal or flag. She was merely trying to place that historical motto on Vermont’s list of official designations, like our state horse (the Morgan) and the state tree (the sugar maple).
Through the years I’ve politely declined to submit bills when I know they cannot possibly match the weightier issues described above. But Angela’s request struck a chord. As a history nut myself, and as the occupant of the Senate seat once held by one of Vermont’s foremost historians and Latin teachers (Graham Stiles Newell), I knew this would be an excellent opportunity to educate some young Vermonters on how a bill works its way through the Legislature. Knowing this would take virtually no time or expense against the more important issues, I introduced a bill to meet her request.
WCAX-TV then posted “Should Vermont Have a Latin Motto?” on their Facebook page and it resulted in a firestorm of several hundred ugly responses. Commentators claimed the proposal would attract illegal immigrants from South America, would require us to press “1” for English, or would allow “Moslims” [sic] to take over our country. They went downhill from there. The level of vitriol, ignorance and bigotry was downright embarrassing for an educated citizenry.
Of course, a young lady was watching all this. But I’m happy to say Angela and her parents are handling this tumult as a lesson every child needs to learn in order to succeed in life. These commentators say I’ll pay in the next election. But if I‘ve helped Angela’s generation to understand the legislative process and how to respond to such attacks with grace and fortitude, I will consider that a price worth paying.
