Julia Banacos and Sara Ambrose of Milton High School produced this seventh and final installment of Red State Vermont for the Underground Workshop, VTDigger’s platform for student journalism.
Editor’s Note: Vermonters cast 112,704 votes for Donald Trump and 248,412 votes for Phil Scott last November. The people behind these numbers often have little in common with each other or with traditional political labels. The interviews in this series explore just a few of the wide-ranging perspectives and attitudes among Vermonters who identify as conservative or Republican. They do not represent the views of Vermont’s Republican Party, the student journalists who conducted the interviews, or VTDigger — each of these Vermonters speaks only for themselves. Interviews have been edited for length and clarity.
Carson Cowhig was at a sleepover with his friends on election night. They all had their phones out to check the numbers. As they were watching the results come in, Carson was feeling hopeful, as Trump was in the lead. All the friends he was with that night felt differently: They all supported Biden. Knowing this, Carson kept his excitement to himself and went to bed.
When they woke up, the results were different. Things were now looking better for Biden. Carson’s excitement faded. It was hard for him to talk with his friends because they would disagree. This was one of many instances where he felt his politics don’t really fit in with the people he hangs out with.
Carson is in his senior year at Milton High School, taking AP psychology, AP bio, personal finance and learning basic guitar. He plans on becoming a mechanical engineer and was just accepted at Norwich University in Vermont. He recently participated in Milton High School’s Rock Project that showcases the school’s musical talent. He also has a passion for his two sports, cross-country and track and field.
Carson’s political views were shaped in part by his right-leaning grandparents, as he was adopted at a young age. He grew up hearing and learning of stories about his dad and his grandfather serving in the military.
He is proud to be a patriotic American. He was not old enough to vote in this election, but he said that Donald J. Trump and Governor Scott would surely have gotten his vote.
When did you first identify yourself as a conservative or a Republican?
I would say back in eighth grade.
Was there a certain event that shaped it?
It’s really the thinking in my household, and again, like I said, most of my family serves. And so it’s a lot of, you know, it’s easier to understand their standpoint when you can sit there and drill them with questions on why they did what they did. I guess that was the reason.
Was there a particular family member who was influential?
It was mostly my dad and my grandfather. I never met my grandfather, but he served in World War II. My dad served in the Army as infantry. And so, you know, those are the two that I always look after.
What does it mean to be a conservative?
Conservative to me really means more power to the people rather than power for the government, so that people choose what they want to do.
What makes you think the military has to be conservative?
I primarily believe it’s conservative because the military obviously has to be pro-Second Amendment. And it’s easy to assume that they are, but it’s also they’re fighting for the freedoms and liberties in America, that you strive for. Because, in a republican government the power is in the people, which is what they’re fighting for, they’re fighting for the people. So, those are the two reasons, they strive for the Second Amendment and they fight for the liberties and freedoms that we have.
What does being liberal mean to you?
To me it’s very focused on letting the government have a little bit more control over people’s lives. That’s how I see it. And it’s more of a follower kind of standpoint.
What is it like being a conservative in Vermont?
It’s pretty difficult, to be honest with you. You know … the people that I’m close friends with usually are conservative, most of them at least, even though I don’t judge people based off their political opinion, but I feel like it’s pretty difficult to be conservative because there’s a lot of people that will challenge your opinion, you know, just based off of the different governors and representatives that we’ve had, most of them are Democrat. So a lot of people see that that’s the way to go. And that’s just the way that the population is right now in Vermont. So it’s kind of difficult but it’s not too bad.
Are you close with people who are not conservative or people who might, like, say they’re Democrats?
Yeah, I don’t mind being friends with anybody of any type because like I said before, it doesn’t matter what their political opinion is. I still see them for who they are, you know, they can, because it’s American to think whatever you want. And you know, it doesn’t affect me.
Do you feel like you can share your opinions at school?
Yeah, absolutely, I don’t mind. I’m not really the type of person to share an opinion just out of nowhere. I usually like to wait till somebody asks me. If somebody asks me, I’ll be more than happy, but otherwise it’s kind of like they didn’t ask. You don’t want to be that person, but yeah, I don’t mind sharing. I think this is cool.
Do you think your political views are supported at school? Do you have students that see you as allies or teachers that see you as allies?
I suppose it depends, because everybody’s got a different stance on an issue. But I feel like a lot of the teachers at our school actually would support me for what I stand for, even if they don’t stand for the same thing. I feel like they’re pretty supportive.
At school do you stand for the Pledge? If you do, how does it make you feel when others don’t?
Yeah, you know, obviously because my parents served, I understand the importance. I feel like when other people don’t stand, it’s their First Amendment right to not stand for the flag. But I feel like they also don’t necessarily see the things that they’re actually supposed to be standing for, the different things that the flag represents and why we say the Pledge of Allegiance.
And it’s like, I don’t want to call it uneducated, because it’s almost like a rude way to say it, but that’s kind of how I feel about it. I feel like they should stand, but they have their right to not do it.
Do you think Vermont, or the United States, is heading in the right direction?
I think it’s not necessarily headed in the right direction. Because I don’t believe that either of the candidates were good, but I do believe that one candidate was better than the other. In this case I think that America has a big problem, and I’m one of those voter fraud people, that’s how I see it.
And it’s not over yet because the Senate still hasn’t said anything but I think it could go in the right direction, but we need like a civil reform or something, in terms of like, to straighten now what’s been happening.
Because there’s a lot of problems in America, stuff like racism, like voter inequality, stuff like that needs to be sorted out. Because it’s a big problem right now. But I mean, I think that it’s heading in the right direction but we just need to put more work into it.
Do you think the Covid-19 regulations go against your rights as an American?
I definitely do feel like it is an infringement against your rights. You should be able to go out and do whatever you want. So it’s like, regardless of whether or not it does infringe my rights, there’s a good reason for why people shouldn’t go out.
And do you believe masks work? What are your opinions on the mask mandate?
I don’t believe that they work. I know a lot of people that got Covid even though they were wearing masks. So I was like, as far as I know, based on what I’ve heard from three or four individuals, it’s like masks don’t really matter.
Are there certain media sources that you would go to?
There’s a couple. There is Newsmax, but it’s really here and there because a lot of the media has a different story, no matter where you look. So yeah, so I just like to combine sources and take the best outcome and try and compare them all to see what’s right and what isn’t.
I listen to Newsmax and sometimes Fox News but they’ve been off and on now. There’s another one, it’s called Breitbart. They do a lot of work. They’re mostly on the Republican side, but they cover a lot of the news that others don’t cover, which I can appreciate, so I can actually compare both sides of the story.
Are there any political movements or issues that you have a tough time supporting?
Yeah, I personally disagree with Black Lives Matter. And I disagree with it based on the things that have been done in terms of riots and burning buildings down and small businesses, but I support Black Lives Matter in terms of trying to help them out and trying to raise them so they’re equal to other people.
But I don’t support it, because I see it as the same thing as like the KKK. The KKK was a white supremacist and I see BLM as Black supremacists. I like it, you know, somewhere in between. That’s why I don’t agree with it.
There were protests for 40 days straight in Burlington with no riots, no violence. Do you still not agree with Black Lives Matter?
I still don’t. Vermonters are usually pretty chill, where you go into cities that have higher crime rates for example, and you go into stuff like that, where people are a lot more violent. And so I feel like they don’t, they don’t see the need for and there’s also a lot more officials around that kind of keep that stuff from happening.
How do you feel about the Black Lives Matter flag in Milton? What is your reaction to the Black Lives Matter flag being flown at the high school since last year?
So there’s two reasons I disagree with it. The first reason I disagree with it is because you shouldn’t have any other flag flown on the same pole as the American flag.
And the second reason is because I don’t necessarily stand with the movement, like I said last time, I stand for Black people and I agree with what they’re going for, but I don’t agree with the things that have been associated with the movement.
What are the core values guiding you in American life?
I see equality as everybody should be given an equal chance to start in their life. That’s the nice thing about America, is that you can do whatever you want with your life and it comes down to the choices that you make. I think capitalism is actually super important because it helps our economy go, and you can work.
And when you work you get the money and it gets taxed, which helps fund the government, and through the money that you earn you can spend it on different things that you want, whether you want to invest your money, or if you want, for example, to buy a car or something that can help you get from point A to point B, to be more successful in life.
Compared to a different system of government, like communism, where everybody has to work, but the government gets the money and the government splits it up individually. So no matter how much work you do and how hard you work, everybody gets the same amount and they have to share. So I feel like America is a big chance for opportunity.
