by Jim Fitzgerald, Candidate for St. Albans State Representative Franklin 3-1
As a proud Democrat, I was elected to represent St. Albans in the Vermont state legislature for six years, and after that I served as mayor of St. Albans for four years. This year I am running for the legislature again... but as a Republican. Yes, a Vermont Republican.
Why? Because Vermont Democrats, at least the ones serving in Montpelier, aren’t Democrats anymore. They’re Progressives who have taken over our proud party and replaced our values with a high tax, anti-jobs, anti-Vermonter agenda that is making it impossible for the people who live here to live here.
The Democratic Party I was a part of looked out for the working Vermonter and respected the working Vermonter. We respected traditional Vermont values, such as frugality and local control. So, tell me how does trying to pass a punishing, regressive carbon tax on gasoline and heating fuel on people struggling to make ends meet in a cold, rural state where people are dependent on their vehicles to work and their furnaces to survive translate into looking out for the little guy? It doesn’t.
The Vermont I know and love is special because of the hard working people who made it this way: small business owners, the people who run the general stores, the inns and hotels, the gas stations and restaurants, and family farms. So, tell me how does trying to pass new payroll taxes, higher rooms and meals taxes, and higher and higher property taxes help these people succeed? It doesn’t.
But, this is the agenda of the Progressives, and they have hijacked the Vermont Democratic Party as part of their plan to these policies into effect. Sadly, they have been very successful, but not to the benefit of our state or its people.
You don’t believe me? Just look at who the elected leaders of today’s “Democratic” Party are. The Lieutenant Governor runs as a Democrat, but he’s really a Progressive. The leader of the Senate runs as a Democrat, but he’s really a Progressive. The same goes for the State Auditor, and a growing number of representatives and senators. The Vermont Democratic Party is no longer run by Democrats, ergo, it has ceased to be the Democratic Party. I’m not leaving it, it has left me.
I have too many friends and family who have had to leave Vermont because our state policies, under this Progressive agenda masquerading under the Democratic banner, have simply become too hostile for working class people to survive.
I do not want this trend to continue, and, as Einstein said, doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. So, I’m giving the Vermont Republican Party a try because Vermont is my home and I want to be able to stay here. If you want to stay, #WalkAway!
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He is not wrong. REAL Democrats in the State of Vermont are becoming as rare as civility on these forums. Voters, however, will see the (D) next to a candidate's name on the ballot and being typically uninformed, will vote them in.
ReplyDeleteIt's the un-informed voters that we have to worry about in this election, as it will come down to close numbers. Vote for Vermont to join the rest of the country in the last 2 years of an economic resurgence.
DeleteJim, you're nothing if not just a tad SLOW in recognizing the radical leftward lurch of the Dems and their disdain for those who try to earn a living in the Green Mountains, only to be taxed into submission by a hostile socialist party. I'll give Jim a plus for finally admitting one of the state's most pressing problems, but his SLOW recognition of it leaves me suspect as to his veracity in doing so at this particular time.
ReplyDeleteThe Dems have been taken over by the radical left, the GOP by the radical right. Neither party represents the average American any more, and haven't for many years. The Dems USED to be the party of working people, until the Feminists and LGBT's took over and made it all about social issues. Tax cuts for billionaires, and other supply-side policies that are killing the working middle class, are all the GOP does. Unless this country gets the crazies on both sides out of our political process, we're screwed.
ReplyDeleteThere are Progressives, Republicans, and Democrats who are fighting for the working middle-class and the former blue collar workers. They are also fighting to get away from the national culture wars and focus on local and State issues like "catch and release", the opioid epidemic, and economic development. If a candidate simply pushes his or her party credentials, then you are right to suspect him, but to simply assume that all Progressives support a carbon tax when it is known to hurt a community like Springfield is simply wrong headed. To assume that every Republican is going to be a Trump supporter is wrong headed, and to assume that every Democrat is going to vote for higher taxes is wrong headed. We have Progressives working to find common ground with Republicans, and that common ground lies in paying attention to local and neighborhood issues -- not national culture atmospherics. Pay attention to what the politicians are actually saying and doing, not their party affiliations.
ReplyDeleteNot every Republican is a Trump supporter, just 90%.
Delete9:06 - Exactly. I usually vote across party lines, but not this year. Trump is obnoxious and his supporters are both dumb and blind. The economy and stock market were strong before Trump, it has nothing to do with him. Trump can take credit for the souring deficit and tax give aways to the 1%.
Deleteif I recall correctly, Fitzgerald was rather hastily dismissed from serving Barre. It might have been for some other reason, or it might have been that he was nailed for falsely claiming some $18,000 in undeserved compensation. I'll find the link.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, I am sure Democrats will join me in wishing him Godspeed and a lot of distance before he stops walking away...
Wish you democrats would stop bashing Donny. Doesn't matter, the going out party (GOP) will be just that, going out .
ReplyDeletePersonally, if you support Trump, as a "local elected official", I do not want your mentality representing me at any level, local, state or national. And do not call me a liberal socialist, that made up definition does not represent me (unless you consider supporting medicare, SS, public schools, etc... as socialism... then I guess you think I am a socialist).
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