Blue World

"And we're going to South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan! And then we're going to Washington, D.C. to take back the White House, Yeeeeeaaaaaah!"

Vermont

Vermont has long been a plague on the Republic.

I have never traveled to this Northern state. I see no reason to go there. In my imagination, I have always thought of Vermont, a satellite of Canada, as the evil twin sister of New Hampshire, which along with Maine acts as the brakes on liberal insanity in New England.

The state that introduced civil unions and gay marriage to America is now trying to make some waves in the immigration debate. This time around, Vermont is positioning itself as the Blue State anti-Arizona, with a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on illegal aliens:

Bill Sorrell, VT Attorney General, “We’re not going to go out of our way to bother otherwise law-abiding citizens– no matter what race, creed, or color they are.”

Sorrell released a proposal for bias-free policing— a policy to guide law enforcement in its treatment of people in Vermont, to ensure that race, immigration status, or other criteria don’t influence decision-making.

He contrasted it with Arizona’s controversial new immigration law.

“If Arizona is an example of ask, shall ask, shall tell, our proposed policy is Vermont’s variation on don’t ask, don’t tell.”

The policy is a proposal, not a mandate, which Sorrell hopes will be adopted by all law enforcement agencies.

Somehow this sort of annoying behavior doesn’t seem out of character for Vermont. In Christopher Buckley’s Thank You For Smoking, William Macy plays the role of Senator Ortolan Finisterre, a progressive Democrat from Vermont who is on a stereotypical Yankee crusade to stamp out tobacco products.

There is a joke in the movie that Vermont cheese contains cholesterol which contributes to heart disease which is an even bigger killer of Americans than alcohol, tobacco, or firearms. Senator Finisterre responds, “The great state of Vermont will not apologize for its cheese!”

“Worse is better”

Vermont is a proving ground for the “worse is better” theory. Although 98 percent of the population is White, the prospects for White Nationalism don’t get much worse than they do in The Green Mountain State.

In the 2010 midterm elections, Senator Patrick Leahy was reelected with 64.4 percent of the vote. Vermont’s other Senator, the Jewish socialist Bernie Sanders, will face voters in 2012. Peter Welch won Vermont’s only House seat with 64.5 percent of the vote.

At the state level, Democrats had a veto proof supermajority in the Vermont House (94 to 48) and the Vermont Senate (22 to 7) . The 2010 midterm elections did nothing to alter the balance of power. Republicans picked up one seat in the Vermont Senate.

Jew Peter Shumlin, the Democratic candidate, was elected Governor of Vermont. Howard Dean, the former Governor, is the de facto leader of the progressive movement in America.

Here is Dean on the “racism” behind the Shirley Sherrod story and the “racist fringe” of the Republican Party:

In the 2008 presidential election, Barack Obama easily carried Vermont with a 37 point margin of victory. Outside of the District of Corruption, it was his best showing anywhere in America. Vermont has remained solidly in the Obama column ever since.

Vermont and Immigration

Where does Vermont fall in the immigration debate? The results are not all that shocking. It turns out there are real substantial differences between “Blues” and “Reds” and “progressives” and “conservatives” on this issue.

Senator Bernie Sanders (D+): opposes border security, opposes reduction in numbers of illegal aliens, opposes immigration reduction, refuses to challenge the status quo.

Senator Patrick Leahy (F-): Supports comprehensive immigration reform, opposes attrition through enforcement, opposes E-Verify, supports sanctuary cities, opposes empowering local police, supports chain migration, supports visa lotteries, opposes reducing legal immigration. Leahy is also a strong supporter of affirmative action and gay marriage.

Governor-Elect Peter Shumlin: I can’t find any information about Shumlin’s position on immigration. It is unlikely to be much different from that of Leahy or Sanders. There is virtually no chance that the Democratic supermajority in the Vermont state legislature will sign an Arizona-style immigration law or that Shumlin would sign such a bill into law.

The RINO Brian Dubie wanted to expand legal immigration to Vermont.

Congressman Peter Welch (D): Supports comprehensive immigration reform, opposes attrition through enforcement, supports sanctuary cities, opposes empowering local police, opposes securing the border, opposes cuts to legal immigration.

Note: Welch’s opponent in Vermont, Paul Beaudry, was a NumbersUSA “true reformer candidate.” He lost the general election. Another “system politician” biting the dust.

The effective result of the inclusion of Blue World in the U.S. Senate is to nullify Alabama’s delegation. Patrick Leahy is the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee which covers immigration policy.

If the Republicans had won control of the Senate, Jeff Sessions would be in charge of the Immigration Subcommittee and “comprehensive immigration reform” would have been as dead there as it soon will be in the House under Lamar Smith and Steve King.

Final Thoughts

Vermont is a Blue State with a hardline progressive stance on immigration because it is dominated by “Blues.” Georgia is a Red State with a hardline conservative stance on immigration because it is dominated by “Reds.” Demographics make all the difference.

If you look within Georgia at the stance of each candidate on immigration policy, you will find a perfect correlation between the number of “Reds” in the district and opposition to “comprehensive immigration reform.” In North Georgia, the Democratic Party didn’t even bother to contest several elections because of the preponderance of “Reds” in that region.

It doesn’t matter where we look on the political map. The vanguardist chestnut that there are no differences between “system politicians” fails to pass the smell test of reality.