Editor’s note: This commentary is by Ben Mitchell, of Bellows Falls, a Democratic Socialist who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House seat.
[D]espite military intimidation, Burlington voters voted by 55 percent to send the F-35 to some other state. The controversial F-35 is scheduled to arrive in South Burlington in September 2019.
But Burlington’s Town Meeting Day vote puts it squarely to the City Council to ask the Air Force to base the nuclear-capable F-35 somewhere else. The vote is legally non-binding, but its political potency will be measured by the council’s responsiveness. Even before the vote, re-elected Mayor Miro Weinberger was signalling a willingness to consider other options.
The council should heed the voters and make every effort to send the F-35 elsewhere. As I have said, this plane couldn’t be more wrong for Vermont, especially for Vermont’s most densely populated area. I support the men and women of the Vermont Air National Guard, and I respect the dedication you show in your passion and service. But the F-35 is not an honorable mission, it is a first strike weapon and the Pentagon’s greatest boondoggle to date ($400 billion and growing). What I oppose is the corruption of Washington by the military industrial complex, a corruption that has cowed Vermont’s elected leaders into turning their backs on what’s best for the Vermonters who elected them.
Not one corporate Democrat has ever been brave enough to speak honestly about the F-35 because the F-35 has grown “too big to fail.” Every one of them has a hand in the cookie jar. And when Gen. Steven Cray uses his uniform to weigh in on a civilian, “town meeting” vote, then democracy is under direct attack. Town meeting is a sacred space — one of the truest expressions of democracy in the history of the world.
Burlington’s vote is a healing gesture that helps restore the democratic voice of the people. The vote is a rejection of municipal imperialism inherent in Burlington’s imposing the health, welfare and economic costs of the F-35 on its unwilling neighbors. The vote is an affirmation of the National Guard’s mission to protect Vermont, which matters more than flying an unproved war machine designed to threaten the rest of the world.
The history of the F-35 that includes decades of delay and massive cost overruns still has not produced a reliable plane – what if all this catches up with us and the F-35 is cancelled? Ponder this: If the entire F-35 program fails on its merits, will VTANG still have a mission? Buddha says there are three things you can never hide: “the Sun, the Moon and the Truth.”
