By Jim Parker
We all have our favorite incumbents, either due to a shared ideology, a position on a particular issue or just by their good looks.
Jim Douglas wrote a book called The Vermont Way. Although I haven't read it, I'm certain that his years in public office have given him a perspective on the "Vermont Way" that justifies frustrations demonstrated by the lack of common sense that seems to escape our legislative leaders.
For me, the social issues are settled. As a conservative, I believe in conserving the environment, conserving a person's freedom to choose whom they love or whether to follow through on a pregnancy or not. I'm a conservative on fiscal matters and believe in conserving family values. So I am not ashamed of being a conservative who feels he can live with some liberal ideologies. We now have a growing number of independent voices running for office with this view.
Republicans and Democrats are leaving more and more former party diehards in the dust because of extreme far left or far right views. So Vermont has defaulted to a left-leaning Legislature and is in need of an adjustment.
I believe this balance may finally be coming, not just here but across the state. Except maybe in the gubernatorial race. If you caught the SNL-like gubernatorial debate recently you had to come away with a good laugh and a strangely unsettling feeling that something is missing.
What is missing is common sense that has a reasonable voice and actually puts forth solutions and not rhetoric.
Eventually, there reaches a point where you just can't believe that your favorite incumbent will actually work on the pressing issues of our state apart from their focus during the campaign.
For 14-plus years you have patiently read my views on the damaging economic effects of our education funding system. In an effort to equalize funding for our 251 school districts, our legislators have created an entrenched funding system that serves 20 percent fewer students while nearly tripling the cost of education in 17 years. Local control is a joke and education outcomes have not followed the high spending. There is a leveling down of quality because the cost has gotten out of hand.
With this failure we are to believe that single-payer health care will control health care cost and somehow lower our cost of living in Vermont!
The current administration has spent $77 million to create a failed health care exchange system that is now shut down and will cost another $20 million to fix. We could have had another failed government health care exchange system called Obamacare for no additional cost to taxpayers.
Vermont is a wonderful place to live. It isn't Sweden. It doesn't have Sweden's economic engine to support these ideologies.
Everyone knows single-payer health care is the holy grail of liberal politics; this time it just isn't affordable. It isn't gay marriage or abortion rights that cost taxpayers nothing.
The entire tax revenue of our state will have to increase dramatically and that would mean some very good paying jobs from very good businesses, not just second-home owners. Talking about growing jobs isn't going to do it. We have to fundamentally change Vermont into a state friendly to business and to its taxpayers.
So, sadly, it is time to say goodbye to my favorite incumbents. Thank them for their many years of service and see if we can get some balance and results orientation back into the Legislature.
Jim Parker lives in Warren.
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