This commentary is by Carter Neubieser, a Progressive city councilor representing Ward 1 in Burlington.
Vermonters have made clear that they want a fair tax system, union jobs, affordable housing and health care, and an end to a corrupt political system. Folks have been clear that we must do all we can to address pollution and protect our environment — both for our quality of life and economy. It’s clear that Vermonters understand that all of our neighbors deserve the dignity and respect every human being is entitled to.
Vermonts have also been clear on what our communities don’t want.
We don’t want to live in a state with nearly 39,000 households paying more than half of their income for housing.
We don’t want a state where the plan for poverty is to kick 800 people out of their housing, and onto the streets, with no serious solutions put forward.
We don’t want to live in a state where health care premiums have risen 92% since 2018, compared to the national average of 12%. Or where one organization — the UVM Health Network — controls much of our health care market, leading to all sorts of wasted money and high costs.
We don’t want to live in a state where the federal government will kick tens of thousands of Vermonters off their health care, while cutting taxes for billionaires and their kids.
We don’t want our State Legislature and governor to completely gut public education, while refusing to raise taxes on the wealthiest people in our state. They had the gall to do this, without even taking a roll call vote on the legislation — that way voters don’t know who voted which way.
Our economic and political systems feel stagnant and tired, because they are — our ability to buy a home, make a decent living and provide for our families is disappearing before our eyes.
The good news is that they don’t need to be. The outcomes we are experiencing are the result of bad, sometimes cruel, choices made by politicians and large institutions. Different choices — grounded in fairness, anti-corruption and the needs of Vermont families — will produce better outcomes.
Our state government and many private institutions in our state need major reform.
Moving forward we must tax those who can most afford it. These folks are about to receive the benefits of the largest transfer of wealth from working people to the wealthy in the history of our nation.
We must reign in the power of the UVM Health Network. We must reorganize our health care system with the goal of delivering quality, affordable care for everyone. We must recognize the importance of accessible care for rural communities.
We cannot rebrand and repeat the failed trickle-down economic policies of the last 50 years. We must instead make historic investments in the creation and maintenance of thousands of permanently affordable housing units, for buyers and renters alike.
We must strengthen — not gut — public education in Vermont. We must recognize the important role our public schools and teachers play in many rural communities across the state.
We must rapidly move to fully staff state government and focus on delivering services as effectively as possible.
We must reform our elections to encourage more participation and choice — not less. We must move rapidly to publicly funded elections and ban dark and corporate money.
We must do everything in our power to oppose a dangerous Trump administration that will happily suppress political opposition by force and consolidate power in the executive. We must make clear that Vermonters support civil liberties and oppose more regime-change wars abroad.
In this moment, we must build a political movement that elects and supports leaders who are accountable to their neighbors and coworkers, not to other politicians and lobbyists in Montpelier.
