Town Meeting Day

It is the first Tuesday in March and if you're in Vermont, that means that it's Town Meeting Day. This is the day that (almost) all the cities and towns in Vermont hold their local elections, approve budgets and basically deal with any other stuff that needs to be voted on. It's an old, quaint-sounding tradition that conjures up images of people crowding into town halls - or, in towns too small for town halls, the local saloon - and generally arguing up a storm until someone finally says, "Look, the bar won't open until we finish voting, so let's get it over with!". Someone answers "Ayup" and that settles it.

Here in the big city (aka Burlington), things are a bit different. We actually have polling places, usually a school, and since the day is a state holiday, there's no school going on to interfere with the state business. In addition to the usual stuff (voting for mayor, council, clerk, school budget, etc) there are some additional "articles" to ponder. One has to do with whether the city should enact a special 1% sales tax to help with local revenue. Another wants to remove a residency requirement for people appointed by the mayor to head local departments within the city.

And then there are some "Advisory Referendums". I won't bore you with the whole list but there are two worth mentioning. One concerns Vermont and the National Guard. The referendum would require the city to "use all lawful means" to remove any aircraft that are "equipped as bombers", to "reassign" the Guard to its "traditional and only proper mission", which is the defense of the state and the nation and to prevent the guard from ever being sent overseas again to "take part in a war of aggression against another nation". Is it possible, I wonder, that in defending the state and the nation, it might just be necessary for the Guard to, I don't know, drop a bomb or two on something? And does this mean that if we're involved in a war overseas that's not a "war of aggression against another nation" - say that another nation got aggressive with us and oh, I don't know, flew some airplanes into the two largest buildings in our largest city and killed some 3,ooo people - does this mean it would be okay to send the Guard?

Oh, wait. Al Quaeda isn't a nation, is it? Tricky. Very Tricky.

The second advisory referendum has to do with whether there should be fluoride in the water. Yes, you read that correctly. In 2006, we're actually discussing - and some lunatics are trying to remove - fluoride from our drinking water. Wasn't this question answered years ago? But wait. The New York Times says that young people are leaving Vermont in droves. You don't suppose there's a connection, do you?

For a related look at what's happening politically in Vermont, read this National Review article by Jonah Goldberg. Yes, it's three years old but it's just as timely today. (h/t Ed Driscoll)

Update: Five Vermont Towns Endorse Move to Impeach the President. And the vote on the Vermont National Guard was defeated by a 58-42% margin. Which means that 42% of Vermonters would like the Guard to disappear. This is sheer lunacy. Personally, I blame Ben & Jerry.