Twice in six weeks Vermont independence candidate Dennis Steele confronted the five Democratic gubernatorial candidates during debates held at UVM and the high school in Hyde Park respectively. It was the latter intervention which was particularly revealing of the moral character, or lack thereof, of the five Democrats.
Steele asked, “If you are elected governor, will you do everything in your power to bring home the Vermont National Guard troops from Afghanistan and Iraq and block any future attempts by the Federal Government to deploy them overseas? And if you are unsuccessful in bringing the Vermont troops home, will you call for Vermont to secede from the Union?” The five candidates and speaker of the House Shap Smith, who was the debate moderator, were visibly stunned by Steele’s questions.
Without exception the five neoliberal Democrats lined up behind the U.S. Commander in Chief marching in lockstep to the beat of the American Empire’s drum. They summarily rejected the idea of intervention on behalf of the Vermont National Guard troops to bring them home sooner. They made it abundantly clear that their loyalty lies first and foremost with the Empire, not with the people of Vermont.
How is it possible that Susan Bartlett, Matt Dunne, Deborah Markowitz, Doug Racine, and Peter Shumlin continue to pledge their allegiance to the most materialistic, most racist, most militaristic, most violent empire of all-time? An empire which is owned, operated, and controlled by Wall Street, Corporate America, and the Israeli Lobby. They ought to be ashamed of themselves.
One can listen to an audio clip of the response of the Neoliberal Five to Dennis Steele’s questions by going to www.GovernorSteele.com.
Imagine…Free Vermont
Thomas H. Naylor
March 22, 2010
