April 12 Event in Ludlow, Vermont

Food, facts, and friendship

I am speaking tomorrow, April 12, at a modest Republican event in Ludlow. I speak at many venues — frankly, I wish more so-called liberal outlets would “tolerate” my presence and opinions, even if to disagree with me in civility. This was a cornerstone of my own (truly, not neo-) liberal upbringing: disagreeing with people in conversations that reaffirmed both sides’ humanity. The modern polarization of Left and Right hurts community, family and personal relationships, and social stability.

Yesterday, Mary Holland from Children’s Health Defense spoke at the Vermont State House about vaccine safety, parental rights, and the need for more thorough studies of many vaccines currently administered to children and pregnant mothers. Of course, these issues should and do concern people on both sides of the political aisle — but the progressive Vermont legislature canceled Mary’s presentation to the legislature scheduled for that morning. This was not just rude, it was ignorant.

So often these days, one hears the mantra of “being on the right side of history.” The Vermont legislature was on the right side of history when it banned slavery in the late 18th Century before any nation had done so, and again when it earnestly opposed southern slavery before and during the US Civil War. But it was very much on the wrong side of history when it endorsed the definitively progressive eugenics movement a century ago, and it is on the wrong side of history now. The “science” of vaccines and their safety has been usurped by a massive, legally-immunized pharmaceutical industry that has captured the regulatory agencies charged with protecting public health. Vaccine injuries to children and pregnant women impact both liberal and conservative Vermonters: Vermont’s Legislature is shameless in its support of large corporations above individual rights.

I spoke at the Statehouse on Wednesday about Vermont public schools and parents’ rights: a video of the event can be viewed here. I mentioned at the beginning of my presentation that everything I was about to say at what was essentially a conservative forum are the same things I believed when I was a Democrat. I then discussed the severe problems in Vermont school systems, including excessive spending, plummeting test scores, and the eclipsing of parental rights in violation of very clear Constitutional protections. I quoted from Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s 2000 decision in Troxel v. Granville:

“The liberty interest at issue in this case -- the interest of parents in the care, custody, and control of their children – is perhaps the oldest of the fundamental liberty interests recognized by this Court. More than 75 years ago, in Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U. S. 390, 399, 401 (1923), we held that the "liberty" protected by the Due Process Clause includes the right of parents to "establish a home and bring up children" and "to control the education of their own." “

This is still the law of the land, but in the land of Vermont, it has been profoundly violated by a legislature very firmly committed to being on the wrong side of history. Racist policies against white people are being taught in Vermont public schools, in violation of the state and federal constitutions. Trans ideology, queer theory, overt teaching of detailed sexuality, climate change fears, and other ideological positions are inflicted on young students in direct opposition to many parents’ values or wishes. I would have staunchly opposed all of this when I was a Democrat: many Democrats do now, and their numbers are growing.

Since when did Democrats favor administration of medical treatments on children without parental involvement or informed consent? Not just for vaccines and birth control, but dangerous puberty blockers and hormones. This is now supported in Vermont schools, and protected legally by the legislature that barred Mary Holland from sharing basic scientific truths to progressive ears deaf to the winds of history.

I will be talking about these issues again tomorrow in Ludlow, and I invite all who can attend to join us. I will also tie in the related problems of mental illness inflicted on children by social media, the threats of TikTok, and the relationship between social media, social justice, and the unhinged mental illness demonstrated by many on the far left in today’s society. Most Democrats do not support vandalism of Teslas (often owned by Democrats!), opening borders to fentanyl-dealing criminals, or seeking freedom for murderers who assassinate corporate executives in the street. More and more studies reveal that such behaviors are caused by mental illness, measurable in the brain, and far more prevalent in liberals than conservatives.

Join us and hear why, and what can be done to reverse the epidemic of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has now extended to Musk Derangement Syndrome, Kennedy Derangement Syndrome, and deranged hatred of all MAGA supporters. It is a sad cult, but it has clear causes ….and cures.

Let us not hate and dehumanize one another. As conservatives, we must not retaliate against deranged people with similar derangement. But as I will explain, there are reasons why we don’t suffer from this mental illness we see around ourselves, including mentally deranged representatives within the halls of the Vermont legislature. More and more traditional “blue-dog” Democrats are recoiling from violence, extremism, and hate labeled as tolerance and “inclusivity.” Let us welcome them to the sane fold, and the “Right” side of history.