Brattleboro Reformer - Candidates Stump in County
Candidates stump in county
By DARRY MADDEN, Reformer Staff
Brattleboro Reformer
Monday, July 24
PUTNEY Nearly 100 people, including many Windham County lawmakers, gathered Saturday night to hear senatorial hopeful Rep. Bernard Sanders speak about the state of affairs in Washington, in the Middle East, across the country and here in Vermont, emphasizing the revolutionary power of grassroots activism and urging his supporters to get out and knock on doors.
Sanders' campaign staff has been knocking on them lots of them. At a rate of about 1,000 per day, their goal is to knock on 150,000 doors, or half of the doors in the state of Vermont, by the November election.
"What we want to do is win it and win it big," said Sanders. "But also tell this country that grassroots politics are alive and well."
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Sanders told those gathered that Washington was currently run by the most "reactionary, incompetent and corrupt" group in all of their lifetimes.
"If anyone thinks that these are some old-fashioned conservatives who you may disagree with, they're wrong. No these are right-wing extremists."
Sanders said that constituents often come and ask him to introduce legislation to the floor of the House, not understanding that presently, every committee is headed by a Republican.
"Legislation does not get onto the floor of the House unless the Republican leadership wants it on the floor of the House," he said.
Which is why Sanders said he does not support local efforts to impeach President Bush. He believes that a Democratic majority in Washington, while not a silver bullet cure for the nation's ills, would at least slow the "drift to the right," recommending instead that concerned voters get out and knock on doors.
Sanders spoke about the state of the economy, saying that Vermont has lost 20 percent of its manufacturing jobs in the last five years, and that a major transformation of American industry was leaving the country with only "Wal-Mart type jobs" that offer low wages, few benefits and which are "vehemently anti-union."
"If you turn on the TV, you're going to have the president of the United States telling you how great the U.S. economy really is," said Sanders. "The president's confusion in this matter is that he hangs out with millionaires and billionaires. What has been going on in this country since George W. Bush became president is that 5 million Americans have slipped into poverty."
Of all the families in Vermont, said Sanders, 99.8 percent would not benefit from the repeal of the estate tax that the Bush administration has been working on.
Sanders called the war in Iraq "depressing," and said that he supported the removal of American troops as soon as possible.
He also spoke to the need for alternative energy policies, including hydrogen, provoking some disagreement from the audience.
Sanders said he does not support the relicensing of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant.
Another question erupted from the audience about how ineffective local grassroots efforts can feel, citing the work around impeaching President Bush and closing Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.
"Do you know how many years people struggled for basic civil rights? For voting rights?" said Sanders. "If you have kids, or grandkids, you don't have the right to engage in despair."
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