CARE: Correspondences for American Resistance and Endurance

“I hope Vermonters remember the Vice President is here on a family trip with his young children and, while we may not always agree, we should be respectful. Please join me in welcoming them to Vermont, and hoping they have an opportunity to experience what makes our state, and Vermonters, so special.”

Those were the words of Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, addressing Vermonters who are not at all happy that U.S. Vice President JD Vance is visiting the state this weekend.

We should be respectful to the guy who told the bald-faced lie that Haitian immigrants were eating household pets in Springfield, Ill. We should be so mindful, so demure in the presence of the dude who went to Germany and decided to schmusen up to neo-Nazis instead of respecting and maintaining the long-term relationships with America’s allies. And we absolutely should honor the POS who, this very day, sat in the same room as Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy — the man leading his country through years of war against Russia’s invading forces — and acted like a freakin’ toddler alongside Orange Julius.

Sorry, Phil. I will not make Vance feel welcome here because he is not welcome here.

But what about the kids, right? Why should Vance’s kids suffer because of their father?

I wish his kids no ill will. I hope they have a delightful time here. Enjoy the slopes. Drink some maple syrup. Milk a cow. Whatever. I don’t particularly care. And I’m sorry their father turned out to be willing to sell his soul for a bit of power.

But here’s the thing …

How much thought does Vance give to other people’s children? Not half as much as I just gave to his. 

He is an active participant in breaking up and deporting migrant families, separating children from their parents. He has no hesitation in preventing children from getting the gender-affirming care they seek. And he clearly isn’t concerned about how the loss of parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, will impact kids when decent healthcare becomes even more of a unicorn than it already is. 

As for showing Vance what makes Vermonters so special, I’d like to direct him to bone up on the Green Mountain State’s history. (Maybe Phil needs this reminder too, now that I think about it.) Because Vermonters have a storied history of not bending the knee to tyrants.

Ever hear of Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys? Not big fans of tyranny.

Maybe read about Matthew Lyon, too. He was the Vermont Congressman who was arrested for sedition because he strongly and loudly opposed President John Adams. He saw Adams as a power-hungry politician who possessed an ego in need of constant feeding, who had a tendency to remove proven individuals from their positions and replace them with idiots, and generally being a douchebag. Is any of this sounding familiar? Oh yeah, and Lyon was also a colonel in the Green Mountain Boys.

Or moving forward a bunch, there’s the late and greatly-missed Senator Jim Jeffords, Back in May 2001, with a one-seat Republican majority in the Senate, Jeffords saw both the already-present ugliness and the even worse stuff on the horizon. So he flipped the script, leaving the Republican party and becoming an Independent. (For the youngsters reading this, there was a time when some Republicans had integrity and cared more about the country than the party. Really. I am not making this up.)

Anyway, Jingoistic Dingus Vance is skiing in Vermont this weekend. If you see his kids, be nice. Goodness knows they probably need it, having been relegated to shielding their daddy from people who might hurt his feelings, just like poor little Kevlar Musk is doing for his papa these days. As for the Vice President, let him know what you think. We still have a Constitution and free speech, at least for a few more days.

MUSIC: Fortunate Son by Credence Clearwater Revival
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand
Lord, don’t they help themselves, Lord?
But when the taxman come to the door
Lord, the house lookin’ like a rummage sale, yeah

POETRY: I Must Become a Menace to My Enemies by June Jordan
I will no longer lightly walk behind
a one of you who fear me:
                                    Be afraid.
I plan to give you reasons for your jumpy fits
and facial tics
I will not walk politely on the pavements anymore
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HEY KIDS! COMICS!!!: Superman