Dear Editor,
As VTDigger’s recent reporting clearly indicates, over its last several sessions, the Vermont Legislature has danced around the predominant and defining cause of Vermont’s historic dilemma. Our lawmakers lack the courage to tackle this reality with the bold, decisive steps that a forthright statement of the problem requires. Absent the necessary clarity of definition, half-measures and inadequate solutions dominate their discussions, and the long-suffering people of Vermont fail to find the respite they deserve.
In two words, the words the Legislature is clearly too craven to admit, Vermont suffers from excessive ruralization. People in Vermont are simply far too few and way too spread out, and as a result, Vermont is the very definition of inefficiency. Schools are too small, neighbors are forced to depend on the generosity of friends for basic social interactions, healthcare is monstrously expensive, the aging rely on the care of their families, and public transportation is woefully inadequate.
The rest of the world figured out eons ago that efficient human life takes place in urban centers dominated by high-rise buildings, proximity to social services, concentrated economic endeavors and cultural opportunities. Life in the sticks forces individuals to fend for themselves, make do with limited resources and improvise Band-Aid solutions. Why would a sane person choose to live that way? But our Legislature continues ignoring the real problem. Obviously, Vermont needs to close the countryside, expand its current two or three metropolitan areas and create genuine cosmopolitan life for Vermont’s beleaguered rustics.
With a few precise strokes of its legislative pen, Montpelier could create the genuine disincentives necessary to shut down the wasteful boonies, expand essential construction and business optimism, and create real cities instead of the half-populated hamlets now pretending to urban life. Construct a few 40- or 50-story buildings in Burlington and Brattleboro, create sufficient metropolitan population to build efficient schools, consolidate inefficient family farms, shutter tiny villages and close nasty dirt roads, and we could begin turning this podunk state around.
Free our people from the demands of country living. Provide real cities. With proper legislative attention, the trials of hick-ville Vermont can soon be a backwoods of the past. Wake up, legislators, and bring Vermont into the 21st century.
Jay Stroud
Quechee, Vt.
