When I cast my vote on Nov. 3, I voted for a governor, not a king. But Phil Scott, with his latest edicts and his never-ending state of emergency declarations, appears to have appointed himself ruler over all of us peasants.
And why shouldn’t he? Who is to stop him? Certainly not the Vermont Legislature. I honestly wonder why we, the taxpaying peasants of Vermont, are paying their salaries? So they can abdicate their responsibility to the king?
King Scott says “we need to make sacrifices” to slow the coronavirus spread and ensure hospitals are not overwhelmed According to healthvermont.gov, there are currently 20 people hospitalized with coronavirus — one in intensive care. How bad off are Vermont’s hospitals that 20 people threaten to overwhelm the system?
Nationally, COVID-19 has a 97.8% survival rate. In Vermont, that rate is 98%. In terms of deaths per 100,000 population, coronavirus in Vermont has claimed 9.5. In 2018, heart disease, the leading cause of fatalities in Vermont, killed 213 per 100,000. Accidents claimed 69.8 per 100,000, and the flu (despite flu vaccines) took 13.9 per 100,000.
Where was the state of emergency then? Shall we shutter indoors until we stop having heart attacks and stay off the roads to eliminate accidents?
So this holiday season, as we celebrate under the decrees of King Scott — shunning our fellow Americans and cowering in our homes masked in fear — let us give thanks: 2019 marked the 243rd year of the land of the free and the home of the brave. It was a hell of a run.
Brian Vogel
Manchester Center