So Vermont, Spread The Web

Burlington VT
February 28th, 2011

What do the startling changes in the Middle East have to do with Vermont? Think globally for a moment. Think access to the web, democracy and prosperity.

Please bear with me as I lay out my dots while attempting to reconnect them at the end.

I’ve been pondering these thoughts over the weekend as we approach a unique institution in our state - Town Meeting Day. For those of you who don’t know or need to be reminded, Town Meeting Day in Vermont is in two days - Tuesday, March 1st!

Vermont Town Meeting Day is a tradition dating back to before there was a Vermont. The first town meeting was held in Bennington in 1762, 15 years before Vermont was created and way before the internet.

In the late 1700s, as today, town citizens in Vermont held meetings so that they could address the problems and issues they faced collectively. Popular matters of legislation in earlier town meetings included whether or not to let pigs run free or whether smallpox vaccinations should be allowed in the town (some thought vaccinations were dangerous). Voters also decided what goods or labor could be used as payment for taxes.

Town meeting also served a social function (as it does today.) It brings people together who might not otherwise know each other. This can strengthen social ties within a town and help people work together to tackle community problems in the practice of direct democracy.

In a parallel but related story on the front page of this morning’s New York Times an article proposes what does Al Qaeda and the Obama Administration have in common? Now, in country after country across the Middle East as people have risen to topple their leaders, Al Qaeda and the United States have played absolutely no role. For nearly two decades, the leaders of AL Qaeda have denounced the Arab world’s dictators as heretics and puppets of the West and called for their downfall. In this NYT article, Brian Fishman, a terrorism expert at the New America Foundation said, “Knocking off Mubarak has been Zawahri’s goal for more than 20 years, and he was unable to achieve it,” “Now a nonviolent, nonreligious, pro-democracy movement got rid of him in a matter of weeks. It’s a major problem for Al Qaeda.”

Meanwhile, U.S. policies have largely supported these dictators for between 30-40 years in order to “keep the peace” while as Tom Friedman recently pointed out, treating these countries like “gas stations” for our (US) consumption. The US has conveniently look passed all the indecencies, corruption, mis-appropriation of US taxpayer’s money funding these crooks and resulting lack of democracy to keep oil flowing. A very dirty business indeed.

As events unfolded in Egypt, Obama stood like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming freedom train unable to stand up decisively for the cherished principles of democracy against tyranny and oppression. Hypocrisy at her finest!

This was a revolution for Heaven’s sakes hatched via communication on the internet through, in this case, Facebook! Not terrorism, not drone attacks, suicide bombers, “Mission Accomplished” and all that crap.

What Al Qaeda, Obama, Bush and the US military can’t solve in country after country it attempts to impose its will upon, ordinary citizens were able to do originating in the grass roots, through the internet and through protest.

Yesterday, in Sunday’s Burlington Free Press, an editorial entitled, “Vermont is Vermont north as well as south” says many things about the nature of Vermont’s people. The article attempts to prettify how we are all one from north to south - from Burlington to Bennington. And I submit, we have many shared values.

However, the lack of broadband web access by thousands and thousands in our state remains our greatest divide from each other (as Vermonters) and from the ever increasing pace of the outside world. The Vermont Department of Public Service painfully points out the glaring discrepancies on their web page. “In Rutland, Washington, Grand Isle and Chittenden Counties almost 95% of the population or more has access to some type of broadband service. In Essex and Orange Counties, on the other hand, DSL, cable, and fixed wireless broadband services are available to half and two thirds of the population respectively. In Windham, Franklin and Lamoille Counties almost a quarter or more of residents do not have access to one of these broadband services.”

Simply put, in 2007 The Vermont Department of Public Service concluded in its article entitled,Access for All: Meeting Vermont’s Broadband and Wireless Goals “that broadband service is not expanding fast enough. That the achievement of these goals is challenging but necessary to the future of Vermont” and Vermonters from north to south.

So Vermont, Spread The Web!

If we want to safe guard freedom, independence, prosperity and the open flow of ideas through global communication, Spread The Web!

If we want to be “one state from north to south” as the Burlington Free Press editorial suggests “we should want to understand what’s at stake for quality of life in those communities, how this affects the rest, and as a state we should commit ourselves in the Legislature and among the socially responsible business community to find ways to keep each part of us whole.”

So Vermont, Spread The Web!

If you are considering listing your home for sale or buying a home or condominium in or near Burlington Vermont Real Estate or Chittenden County, please give me a call or email me to discuss the market, schools and your options. I would be delighted to assist you. I can be reached on my direct line at 802.238.5256 or email me at Chris@ChrisHurdVT.com

As always, please feel free to post any thoughts and comments here below.

Armed with solid numbers, buyers and sellers alike can manage their expectations and the current realities of our local market.