open letter to the vermont legislature

dear vermont legislature,

house, senate, and legislative staffers- i am writing to you as one august body instead of writing to just those of you for whom i vote (or would not have voted, you know?) because all together you are much more than the sum of your constituent parts.

while we may all have differing opinions as to the best methods of meeting the common challenges we face, we do all face those same challenges and when i follow the news of your work i get the feeling that you're trying to come up with solutions that best benefit the people and land of vermont.

sometimes when i look at other legislatures i get the feeling i'm watching an obscene obstructionist clown car performance whose purpose is really to distract people from the real work, which is figuring out how to take care of our people and our land and be fair about it.

we NEED to have important arguments, because even good ideas we believe in may be in conflict. i LOVE the idea of open immigration, but i don't love the idea of overtaxing social systems, or cutting the job pool. i like the idea of single payer healthcare, but i don't want to break the treasury.

these are just two examples of where thoughtful people need to think and argue and try some things and see how they work and then maybe go back and try some other things.

so really. the short version of what i'm saying here is thanks. thank you for taking the time to do this work on behalf of our state. thank you for doing the heavy lifting. i'm proud to have you represent me.

thanks.

love, flask