Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos this week encouraged Vermonters to register to vote for National Voter Registration Day (NVRD) on September 20^th. NVRD is a nonpartisan civic holiday celebrating democracy, held annually in September.

“When you register to vote and cast your ballot, you are strengthening our democracy just by participating,” Condos said. “National Voter Registration Day is an opportunity for us to try and further reach those eligible Vermonters who are not yet registered.”

“No matter how you vote, or how you cast your ballot, we want you to register and vote. We’ve made it easy: you can register online at https://olvr.vermont.gov, automatically at the Department of Motor Vehicles, or by registering directly with your Town or City Clerk.

“The November 8 General Election will be here before you know it. Vermont does have same-day voter registration, so if you forget to register before Election Day, you can still show up at the polls, register, and vote, but why wait and risk any complications? Register today, or for NVRD, and save yourself the hassle. Plus, once registered you have a number of early voting options you can consider,” Condos said.

by Ed Wheeler

Occasionally people will make observations about our national and local situation and then talk of armed uprising. The problem I have with this is that our American founders gave us a brilliant system for peaceably achieving change without resorting to violence and too many have ignored it! In many cases these would be armed patriots have never attended even one town or county party meeting. They have not run for office or actively supported candidates. They have not gone to a school board meeting or any other public meeting. They have ignored many opportunities to assert their role as one of “We the People”.

As long as the Declaration of Independence (our values) and the U.S. Constitution (our system) stand as the defining national documents we have a way to peacefully make a difference. A republic does not run itself. It demands participation. Patient, steady participation is required. Destiny belongs to those who show up and fulfill their responsibility as citizens.

Meanwhile, the farcists among us are doing all they can to provoke violence so they can in return crush their political opposition through sheer force. William Federer has done a great job of documenting this. For example, Hitler burned the German legislative building but blamed it on his political opponents who were then rounded up and eliminated. More recently the President of Turkey staged his own attempted assassination, blamed his opposition and then eliminated all of them. Sounds like J6 right?

The point now is they WANT us to get violent so they have an excuse to eliminate us. We must not give them this excuse. Instead we must replace them by voting them out of office. We have to overwhelm the most extreme efforts to rig the system.

We are being ruled by evil, devious and foolish people! They want to “transform” our country and make it another failed socialist experiment! Don’t let them!

The author is pastor of Valley Bible Church in Middlebury.

Practical Actions You Can Take by Debbie Wuthnow

Courtesy of iVoterGuide

As we all know, voting is effective only insofar as people participate and legitimate votes are counted correctly. Now that early voting for the 2022 General Election is nearly upon us, it’s crucial to be reminded of the actions you can take to preserve our liberty.

In recent years, election fraud has been the focus of much attention. As citizens work with state legislatures to enact laws that make voting more secure—and stop destructive federal overreach—do you know that it is within your power to make a difference right now?

Less than twenty percent of those eligible actually vote, and even fewer take part in facilitating the voting process, which is essential to free and fair elections. I want to give you an overview of three things that you can do this season besides casting your vote:

Courtesy of Ethan Allen Institute

Here are sixteen fairly stated and timely questions voters should put to those seeking legislative office this November. Voters deserve to know where office seekers stand. That’s what makes democracy work.

1. Should the legislature require the top five percent of Vermont income taxpayers to pay a $30 million income tax surcharge to finance a “Green New Deal”?
2. Should the legislature broaden the current 6% sales and use tax on goods to include services (such as haircuts, lawn maintenance, plumbing, legal advice, etc.)?
3. Should the legislature make it an annual practice to contribute at least 10% more than the Annual Required Contribution to the two state retirement funds in order to eliminate their more than $5 Billion unfunded liabilities by 2040?
4. The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2020 set mandatory carbon dioxide emissions reduction targets for 2025, 2030, and 2050. This is to be accomplished by rules controlling all usage of gasoline, diesel fuel, natural gas, heating oil and propane. These rules would take effect without any vote by elected representatives. Should all such rules be presented to the legislature for approval before taking effect?
5. The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2020 authorizes “any person” to bring a lawsuit against the State if the emission reduction rules fail to achieve the adopted targets. Should this “sue the State” provision be repealed?
6.  Under the Congressional Review Act, a simple majority of both chambers of Congress can pass a resolution of disapproval to kill a rule. Should one fifth of the members of the Vermont House or Senate be allowed to force a record vote on a resolution of disapproval of new state rules that will have large economic impacts?
7. Should Vermont join ten other states in a multi-state agreement called the Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI-P), by which Vermont agrees to discourage the use of motor fuel by increasing gasoline and diesel taxes by a steadily increasing 5-17 cents/gallon , using the revenue to subsidize “green” projects such as electric vehicle subsidies, EV charging stations, electric buses, etc.?
8. Should the legislature adopt a “Clean Heat Standard” designed to increase the price of home and business heating fuel in order to raise money to finance weatherization, electric heat pumps, and other “green” projects favored by the Public Utility Commission?
9. Should the legislature make “carbon neutrality”, either through the use of building materials and processes or the purchase of “carbon offsets”, a requirement for obtaining an Act 250 development permit? 
10. Should the legislature mandate that residential buildings conform to State-established “green” energy efficiency standards before a title can be transferred?
11.  Should persons be free to make personal use of drugs like heroin and fentanyl, provided that they accept financial responsibility for medical treatment for overdoses?
12. Should the legislature require electric vehicles to contribute the equivalent of a motor fuel tax to the Transportation Fund, as do on-road gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles, to pay for maintenance of State roads and bridges?
13. Should the general election ballot offer voters a choice among teams of Governor and Lt. Governor candidates, with the lower state offices filled on a nonpartisan basis by appointment and confirmation? (The One Big Choice Plan).
14.  Should able-bodied persons who receive state welfare assistance be required to perform 10 hours a week of volunteer service in their communities?
15.  Should the legislature allow all parents to choose the school or educational program that best fits the needs of their children from among a wide array of providers, with their portion of Education Fund dollars following the child?
16. Should the legislature approve a “Community Resilience and Biodiversity Act” (vetoed in 2022) to designate 30% of Vermont as undevelopable “conservation” districts by 2030, and 50% by 2050?

       There are of course many other questions that could be posed. But pressing candidates to respond to these will give voters a good measure of the views and abilities of people seeking elective office. Voters deserve to know what they’ll get by giving their votes. That’s what makes democracy work.

By John McClaughry

Title IX a part of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receives funding from the federal government. The Biden Administration is proposing changes that will drastically alter it. Parent? Grandparent? Civic Leader? Teacher? Pastor? You should be concerned. Proposed changes will effect parental and religious rights, not to mention privacy and the rights of our girls to compete on a level playing field athletically. This rule making is open to public comment until September 12th. The Child and Parental Rights Campaign has provided information, links and templates to assist you in commenting.

Go to https://childparentrights.org for ideas, information, and  resources.