Here is a spreadsheet of the Top 11 municipalities in #Vermont by population (2020 Decennial Census Data), showing the number of registered voters in 2025, how many voted, what type of #elections and #TownMeeting they hold, what type of government they have, and their votes on the FY26 budget (#VT SecState reported data) Of them, the City of #Burlington and the Town of #Brattleboro are the only two that do not hold a townwide ballot to approve the municipal budget.
#VTpol
All societies above a certain size and scope are better governed by representation. The voters of #Brattleboro understood this in the 1960s, when they made the change to Representative Town Meeting. Are we more wise than they?
by Gemma Seymour, Tuesday, February 3, 2026 — Issue 851
https://www.commonsnews.org/issue/851/851rtm_seymour
#Vermont #VT #VTpol #VTpoli #VTelections #TownMeeting #TownMeetingDay
A interesting introduction from #AmandaJanoo. I realize this is from over 3.5 years ago, and I do like what I see in terms of values, but what I want to see is concrete policy proposals, rather than flowery prose about well-being, generosity, and contentment.
I take a very dim view of politicians who refuse to talk specifics, out of fear of alienating votes. Tell me what you believe, but tell me what you are *actually* going to do about it.
https://medium.com/postgrowth/we-are-the-economy-912c56c30552
The #VT Futures Project Economic Action Plan is good reading.
I don't necessarily agree with everything in it. I have my misgivings about the fact that the contributors to it are exclusively from the business sector, without any formal input from the #SocialJustice community.
It does correctly identify key challenges #Vermont faces for its future: the need for #population #growth and the need for #redevelopment of our built #environment.
Most of #Vermont's most pernicious challenges in the coming decades are related to the fact that Vermonters are spread too thin to afford #SnowGlobePolitics.
The pastoral fantasies of the past are the opposite of what it is going to take to survive and thrive in the coming decades. There are only 24 years to #Vermont2050.
We are already running out of time.
The crisis of #Vermont #schools is a product of an #aging population, rural #sprawl, and a declining #economy.
Vermonters need to understand and accept that we cannot afford to maintain our public #education system with our past and current assumptions. Refusing #consolidation is simply not an option. It's not #sustainable. This is basic arithmetic.
We need to attract more people to live downtown, and condense our impact on the #environment into town and city centers.
I am proud to support the re-election of Isaac Evans-Frantz to the #Brattleboro #Vermont Selectboard. Isaac is a sincere and courageous voice for accountability, affordability, and compassion in our community.
Bernie Sanders' current term is up in Jan 2031, if he doesn't retire before then. He is currently the second-oldest Senator, after Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa.
He has supposedly said that this term "likely be his last term" in the Senate. So, #VTDems have less than 4 years to figure out who they are going to back to replace Becca Balint in DC and/or Phil Scott in Montp. Election Day 2030 will be here faster than you realize, assuming we still have elections, of course. #VTpol
#VTpol I'll be the first to admit that Bernie has actually been doing a fine job, even though I wish he would not have stood for re-election last time, but the honest truth is that had he not run, there wouldn't have been anyone to replace him, except awkwardly moving Becca up after just a single term in the House, and then there would still have been no viable candidate to replace her.
In fact, Phil Scott might himself be the only serious #VT candidate to go to DC, next. He's 67, now.
#VTpol For that matter, it's no secret that #Vermont prefers to send Democrats to Washington, but right now the #VT Democratic Party has a dearth of viable candidates to replace our current delegation. Bernie Sanders needs to step down, and Peter Welch is no spring chicken either. Assuming Becca Balint is the shoo-in to replace Bernie, there's no identifiable candidate to replace Becca, even though the Dem/Prog coalition has recently held a supermajority in the #VTleg.
#VTpol Gov. Scott's response to the campaign of terror the Trump regime is inflicting on Minneapolis and our nation was unacceptably tepid.
When are #Vermont Democrats going to start fielding serious candidates for Governor? They haven't done so in the entire 11 years I've lived in #VT.
The closest was Sue Minter, but she bizarrely tried to make "gun control" the top priority of her campaign in a constitutional carry state with negligible firearms violence. Otherwise, she would have been fine.
@brendan @Wyatt_H_Knott @akamran If #Vermont is going to be a viable state, then we need to look to our future, and not remain fixated on sentimentality for an imagined glorious past. #SnowGlobePolitics are strangling us. #VT #VTpol #VTpoli
@brendan I mean that #VT operates as a "Dillon's Rule" state, and restricts municipalities from governing themselves without approval of the state legislature.
Dillon's Rule is from City of Clinton v. Cedar Rapids and Missouri Railroad Company, 24 Iowa 455 (1868), which has no jurisdiction in other states, made over a century after Brattleboro was chartered.
#Vermont is one of only 8 states that have no home rule provisions, whatsoever. Iowa is not one of them. #VTpol
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_rule_in_the_United_States
Something I'm working on this year. We have 24 years to make it happen. That's three two-term Presidents, four Senators, and 12 Congresspeople.
"Vermont 2050: A Vision for the Future"
The four things #Vermont needs more than anything else are:
1. #HomeRule
2. #Sustainability
3. #Growth
4. #RevenueSharing
I may not live to see it, but I am willing to lay the groundwork.
RE: https://vermont.masto.host/@brendan/115934865956616527
What socioeconomic class you belong to is determined primarily by how much economic #monopoly power you hold, and that is primarily determined by how much of Nature you hold as private property and how much demand there is for the particular plot(s) you own—not by your income. So, if you are "land rich but cash poor", you are still a member of the #aristocracy.
Plain and simple. There's no "quandary" to be found, here. If you want cash, sell your land. #VTpol
All three men (2 white, 1 black; ages 72, 67, 71, respectively—all Boomers) voted YEA.
All four women (1 Hispanic, 1 Desi, 1 Black, 1 Jewish/LGBT; ages 36, 60, 38, 57, respectively—two GenX, two Millennials) voted NAY.
Representation MATTERS.
https://www.qasimrashid.com/p/153-democrats-vote-yes-to-pass-hr
#USpol #VTpol #HR7006 #GetOutTheVote #Elections2026 #Midterms
#ICE List Wiki is a public, verifiable record of #immigration enforcement activity in the US. It documents incidents, agencies, individuals, facilities, vehicles, and legal authorities involved in enforcement operations. Entries are structured, sourced, and timestamped to support verification, cross-referencing, and long-term analysis. It is intended for use by journalists, researchers, advocates, and the general public.
We need a politics of investment, not a politics of austerity.
We need a politics of incentive, not a politics of punishment.
We need a politics of stewardship, not a politics of exploitation.
We need a politics of care, not a politics of control.
We need a politics of development, not a politics of stasis.
We need a politics of welcome, not a politics of isolation.
We need a politics that looks forward, not a politics fixated on the past.
Please, by all means, talk to me about the things you want to see changed in our town. It's what I'm here for, and this is my official Mastodon account for communications with my constituents. #Brattleboro #Vermont #VT #VTpol
The thing that I really want people to understand, when I say that #Brattleboro and #Vermont need to focus on #population #growth and economic growth, is that while #neoliberalism's idolization of endlessly accelerating growth is a root cause of our national and global problems, #VT has the 52nd largest economy out of the 52 states plus DC and PR. Our #economy is not #sustainable. It's not large enough to be sustainable. Our population is shrinking. That's why we need growth here and now. #VTpol
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