Vermont’s Third Party

Vermont is full of political parties. In any given election there are ten, or fifteen candidates for most state wide offices. The Liberty Union Party, the Marijuana Now and Green Party are just a few of the Davids trying to slay the two political giants every March and November.  But out of the crowd of voices trying so desperately to be heard, a legit third party has emerged over the last decade. In a world dominated by Elephants and Donkeys, don’t be surprised if you see a couple Moose meandering around Vermont’s political landscape.

The Progressive Party was founded in 1999, but got its start behind Bernie Sanders’ historic victory in the 1980 Burlington Mayoral race.  Sanders, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, found a way to unite the ultra-liberal with the liberal on his way to defeating long time Mayor Gordon Paquette, by ten votes. 

Since then the Progressive Party has built one of the most successful third parties in the nation, with a strong coalition of state and local government officials around Vermont.

Currently, Progressive Bob Kiss holds the Burlington Mayor’s office, the third in a triumvirate of third party candidates to hold the office since Sanders’ tenure nearly thirty years ago. The Moose also stake claim to four seats on the Burlington city council, one more than city Republicans and are sending six state legislators to the state house this session.

So for what do these Moose stand?

Well, the Progressive “movement” is made up of people who think, that Democrats are too much like Republicans, which, in this state is a hard statement to defend. The Democratic Party has been drifting further and further from the center since the tail end of the Howard Dean era in the late 1990’s

But Vermont’s liberalism really knows no end. 

After all, the city of Brattleboro passed a non-binding resolution to indict President Bush and Vice President Cheney, but still can’t agree on a public-nudity ordnance. This means, that if a naked guy and the President are walking down Main Street, the Brattleboro P.D. has the power to arrest the President, not the creepy naked guy.

Progressives support basically just what you would think an ultra-liberal third party would. Here’s the word from the official party platform…

Universal Healthcare at any cost:

“Medical care should be pre-paid through a combination of federal and state payments, employer taxes, a portion of the individual's income taxes, direct taxes on the profits of healthcare providers or any other mechanism the people of Vermont choose. By eliminating the wasteful bureaucracy of the insurance industry, promoting preventive care, and creating a single-payer system, we can cover all medically necessary care for all Vermonters while spending no more than we do today.”

Protecting The Environment at any cost:

“Much of modern industrial society's economic wealth is based on the waste and destruction of nature's bounty. This is severely impacting the world's people, and will even more seriously endanger future generations. Whether we consider global warming, the spread of toxic pollutants or the virtual mining of fresh water aquifers, rain forests and top soil, our society is on an unsustainable path.”

“Just Say No” To Big Business:

“We oppose the mega-corporations' increasing domination of our state, and will work towards an economy based on human-scale, locally-owned businesses, particularly those owned by the employees or community, which are inherently interested in keeping jobs in Vermont.”

These policies should come as no real surprise to anyone; Vermont imports liberals at the same rate that we export our home-grown talent. Young people leave in search of jobs while liberals come here, looking for a place to change the world, it gets really, really old.

The irony of Vermont’s Progressive movement is it’s helping Republicans get elected across the state.  Progressives have done a fairly good job of siphoning off super liberals from the state’s Democratic base, putting three-way races that may have been untouchable for Republicans, back in play.

The most famous instance was in 2002, when political newcomer, Republican Brian Dubie, beat out Democrat Pete Schumlin and Progressive Anthony Pollina in the race for Lt. Governor.

Unlike many flash-in-the-pan third parties, Vermont’s Progressive Movement is here to stay, and this fall they’ll prop-up their party spearhead, Anthony Pollina once more, this time for the state’s top office. 

There’s little chance that Pollina can make history in his attempt to unseat, Republican Governor Jim Douglas.  Even the state’s Democratic leaders are squeamish to run against the popular, three-term Governor. Legislative leaders, Speaker Gaye Symington and Senate President Peter Schumlin both making it

clear they will not be on the ballot this November.

With Vermonters in dire need of solutions to the real problems facing our state: job creation, economic development and tax relief; I doubt if Pollina’s ideals over ideas platform will gain any traction. 

But who knows.

In Vermont, anything is possible - just ask Bernie Sanders or Gordon Paquette.