Brattleboro Common Sense

With veto overrides, lawmakers expand voter eligibility in Brattleboro, Burlington – 06/20/23

Brattleboro is now the only city in America that lowers the voting age AND gives its young people the right to serve in all elected offices, including its lower town council, called the Representative Town Meeting (RTM).   The amendment approved by the Town included the right to serve on the school board.  BCS agreed with legislators to eliminate this in order to gain earlier approval“

To read more, visit:

https://www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2023-06-20/with-veto-overrides-lawmakers-expand-voter-eligibility-in-brattleboro-burlington

Comment:

The selectboard lawsuits against our homeless shelter are overwhelming and frightening, and it’s great to have this good news. It’s been ten years, and Brattleboro is the first city — the only city in America where young people have a voice as voters and as elected officials. This may stem the tide of youth moving out of town. I was just talking with Addie Lentzner of the Vermont Youth Lobby. We’re thinking about a state-wide campaign. BCS will advocate for full voting membership on school boards.

Young Brattleboro students have a great range of options for political expression. On one hand the student member of the school board is formal but tokenized and not allowed to vote. On the other hand students who worked on the Youth Vote also disrupted the selectboard and the Heifer Parade to declare a climate emergency. The Youth Vote amendment creates the best option, both formal and powerful, if the young voters choose to own their power.

OUR RESPONSE TO TRUMP

CONFRONT

The New York Sun, report by Seth Gitell, September 16, 2008,

Brattleboro Common Sense (BCS) director Kurt Daims presented at the Massachusetts School of Law conference “War and the Law”:

    “. . . Where the conference broke new ground was on the amount of time and discussion focused on getting members of the uniformed officers corps to come over to their side. . . .

   “A Brattleboro, Vt., activist and author of a successful petition in his town calling for the arrest and indictment of Messrs. Bush and Cheney, Kurt Daims, addressed the audience: “We have been trying to tell Congress, ‘don’t fund the war.’ We’ve just got to go around them,” Mr. Daims, a panelist, said. “We don’t talk to the president . . .  We don’t talk to Congress . . .  We talk to the military and say ‘Hey, your oath is to the Constitution, not to the president.'”

    “. . . Subsequent speakers spoke for and against the concept of anti-war activists bringing their message directly to members of the military.”

         The back-story of No-Kings begins in Vermont.  Brattleboro particularly has experience with controversial local resolutions, having approved a resolution in 2003 declaring the “Patriot Act” to be a threat to the Constitution.  By 2006 there was a concentration of Vermont towns resolving against the act or for impeachment. By 2006 they were joined by San Francisco, Chicago and state legislatures in Minnesota and New Hampshire. Brattleboro Common Sense promoted the Bush Indictment Resolution, for expediting the prosecution of  Bush for war crimes in Iraq under a theory of universal jurisdiction. It turned an international spotlight on Brattleboro and presidential war crimes. It was reported in the international press, radio and TV, on the back page of the New York Times, and the front page of US Today.

OUR RESPONSE TO TRUMP

COMPROMISE

We believe transgenderism  should be treated as a health issue, not a political issue.  And people need to know that trans people are victims, exploited by  liberal communities who want to increase their membership, and especially by a heartless corporate health industry that cares first and foremost about profit.  They deserve help, not blame.

     In 2016 we favored trans rights.  While our allies wanted to wait for action at the state level, we promoted trans-friendly bathrooms in the local high school.  It was a simple civil rights issue.  But it isn’t simple.  Our board of directors has approved proposals to reverse the influence of transgenderism, including legislation focused on removing transgender influence in schools.

       Why is this necessary ?  Here is our theory of how the movement became popular so fast.  Four strong influences have aligned suddenly to promote transgenderism:  social media, internet politics, the news media, and the medical industries.   First, social media have devalued true friendship and parental love and separated children’s social lives from their parents’ supervision.  Secondly, non-straight groups are deceptively recruiting confused young people through those un-supervised social media platforms.  Internet activism and social media have created a shallow standard of civic involvement, and non-straight activist groups are desperate for active membership.  So, they pose as saviors, flattering confused young people for their victimhood and grooming them as new members.   Thirdly, transgenderism is ideal clickbait.  With elements of sex and conflict, it dominates the attention of the news media, exaggerating its apparent importance for the public.The last influence is the medical industry, with burgeoning investments in drugs, surgeries, counseling, and artificial birth.  Promising to neutralize the very idea of women, transgenderism opens a market for artificial birth and is a strategic investment.