Vermonters should control their own destiny.
That’s the main idea behind Dennis Steele’s independent campaign for governor, which will likely come to an end in electoral defeat on Nov. 2. Steele believes that Brian Dubie and Peter Shumlin, the major-party candidates, are focused on the wrong issues.
“The problem is the federal government,” said Steele in an Oct. 18 interview. “What we need to do is cut the federal government out.”
Yes, Steele’s candidacy is based on liberating Vermont from the rest of the United States. While he’s listed on the ballot as a independent, he is closely tied to the Second Vermont Republic. That group’s home page describes a nonviolent citizen’s group “opposed to the tyranny of Corporate America and the U.S. government, and committed to the peaceful return of Vermont to its status as an independent republic.”
Steele describes an independent republic of Vermont as his vision. “If the power lies at the local level,” Steele said, “it’s more difficult to corrupt it as a whole. When it’s centralized, it’s easy to corrupt, because you only need to deal with a few people to change everything for everybody. In the decentralized form of government, with the power lying all across different regions, it’s impossible to do that, because if someone starts to be corrupt you can go up to their face and grab ‘em by the collar and say, ‘What are you doing?’ “
Steele is a native Vermonter, and his heritage contains Abenaki Indian roots. He currently lives in Kirby, Vt., less than a half hour’s drive from Lyndonville. He owns multiple web sites, including Radio Free Vermont, an online radio station that promotes Vermont-based artists.
“In St. Johnsbury,” Steele said, when I was growing up, we had East St. Johnsbury School, we had Portland Street School, Summer Street School. All of those were good schools, local, in the neighborhood, where kids could walk to school.”
A major pillar of Steele’s plan centers on education. He intends to push for locally funded, locally owned schools, free of government influence. He also indicated that community members should have some involvement in the curriculum at their local school.
Like schools, Steele wants Vermont to be able to make its own decisions about health care. He’s skeptical of the federal government’s refusal to issue Obamacare waivers until 2017.
“If the people want single-payer health care, let’s just do it,” Steele said. “Shumlin said he’s going to get waivers from the federal government. Well, good luck trying to get waivers from the federal government.”
Steele’s passion for liberation is rooted in a desire for Vermont freedom. His argument is that we’ve become too dependent on federal money, and federal interests have taken priority over Vermont interests.
“We need a governor in place who’s willing to take a look at every federal dollar coming into Vermont,” Steele said, “and saying, ‘Is there a way, instead of taking this money from the federal government, can we figure out a way to solve our problems locally, our own way of solving our problems?’ And then, once we figure out a way to do that, we would take that money and send it back to the federal government with a note attached to it, bring home the Vermont National Guard.”
Most of his solutions to current Vermont problems center around the liberation of Vermont from the U.S, citing the federal government’s “trillion-dollar foreign policy” as one of the biggest burdens on the average Vermonter.
“Vermont’s pro-rated share of that is $2 billion,” Steele said. “That $2 billion could be used to reserve some of our programs, do what we have to do back in Vermont. Until we deal with that issue, we’re gonna have a problem.”
Steele has found it difficult to be heard among the voices in the Vermont gubernatorial race, especially in the press.
“The press is one of the biggest obstacles to freedom,” Steele said. “I met all the obligations to be on the ballot. I followed the rules and laws of Vermont. How come we’re not giving people time in the press?”
He cites the Burlington Free Press and Vermont Public Radio as “the worst.” He also strongly criticized the way independent candidates were segregated from the main Dubie/Shumlin debate.
“I’m crashing the debates,” Steele said. “The debates I haven’t gotten into, I stand out front, put my signs out and hand out cards as people come into the debate. A lot of people don’t even know, like, ‘What do you mean you weren’t included? Everybody’s supposed to be included.’ “
It’s difficult to argue that Steele should be included in the process, however, given the way third party candidates have fared in elections. Most people blame Ralph Nader’s involvement in the 2000 presidential election cost Al Gore the race, and Steele feels similar Democratic fears are hurting him in this election.
“My odds are difficult,” Steele said. “A lot of people from the left are afraid that Dubie’s gonna get elected, so they’re afraid to vote for me, even though they agree with a lot of the things I talk about.”
Aside from Steele, the Second Vermont Republic has several candidates in other elections, and Steele hopes that the party’s message lives on well past Nov. 2.
“My job in this movement is to clear the path,” Steele said. “I’m clearing the path and cutting the brush and taking the path less traveled for the people behind me. It’s like, ‘Listen, we can do this.’ I’ll just go as far as I can go, and people will be like, ‘Wow, this guy’s an open secessionist and he got that far? I’m gonna give that a try. Maybe I can get a little bit further.’ “
Here’s the answers to the Cal-Rec question in block form – JHP
1.) THE STATE OF VERMONT WILL FACE AN ESTIMATED BUDGET SHORTFALL OF $100 MILLION DOLLARS FOR THE NEXT FISCAL YEAR. IT APPEARS A NEW DISTRIBUTION OF FEDERAL STIMULUS MONEY TO THE STATES MAY BE UNAVAILABLE. IT APPEARS STATE SPENDING MUST BE CUT, TAXES INCREASED OR BOTH. WHAT SPECIFIC PROPOSALS WILL YOU OFFER TO DEAL WITH A SHORTFALL IN THE STATE BUDGET ? WHERE DO YOU THINK CUTS CAN BE MADE IN STATE SPENDING/ ARE YOU WILLING TO CUT ADDITIONAL STATE JOBS? ARE YOU WILLING TO RAISE TAXES? PLEASE STATE WHY OR WHY NOT?
“I think what we have to do is look at what the real issue is,” Steele said, “and that’s what Dubie and Shumlin are not looking at. They’re not dealing with the real issues. The problem is the federal government. What we need to do is cut the federal government out.”
He noted Vermont’s $2 billion dollar pro-rated share of the U.S. Defense Department budget as a major source of Vermont spending. “That $2 billion could be used to reserve some of our programs,” Steele said, “do what we have to do back in Vermont. Until we deal with that issue, we’re gonna have a problem.”
Steele also noted that Vermont’s budget deficit is projected to be $313 million by 2014.
“We’re gonna have to decentralize, downsize and relocalize our economies,” Steele said. “I’m in favor of locally funded and locally controlled schools, as we’re facing a $60 to $90 million dollar budget shortfall in our schools.”
2.) THE STATE LEGISLATURE PASSED LEGISLATION DESIGNED TO INCREASE THE CREATION OF SMALL SCALE, INSTATE RENEWABLE ENERGY GENERATION. IN THE CASE OF SOLAR POWER, UTILITIES ARE REQUIRED TO PAY SOLAR POWER GENERATORS 30 CENTS PER KILOWATT HOUR FOR SOLAR POWER, COMPARED TO CURRENT MARKET PPRICES OF SIX CENTS PER KILOWATT HOUR. DID YOU VOTE IN FAVOR OF THIS LEGISLATION? WOULD YOU SUPPORT A REPEAL OF THIS LEGISLATION IN THE UPCOMING LEGISLATIVE SESSION? PLEASE STATE WHY OR WHY NOT.
“I didn’t know that happened,” said Steele. “That’s interesting. I like the idea of solar power, and I think we need to encourage people to do it. Maybe that’s what they are trying to do.”
As a homeowner, Steele said he wasn’t interested in the price per kilowatt hour. He said he’d prefer a low-interest or no-interest loan to put solar panels on his house. “I’m concerned about being energy-independent,” Steele said, “and having the money to put the solar panels on my house. That’s the issue.”
“I’m half for that legislation and half not,” Steele said, “because I’m not sure if that’s the right thing to do. It just seems odd to me. I would be in favor of looking at that legislation and examining it more and, possibly, redoing it.”
3) VERMONT YANKEE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT’S OPERATING LICENSE EXPIRES IN 2012. AN APPLICATION FOR A RENEWED OPERATING LICENSE MUST BE FILED WITH STATE AND FEDERAL REGULATORY AGENCIES, INCLUDING THE FEDERRAL NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION AND THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND THE STATE PUBLIC SAFETY BOARD. THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MUST APPROVE A MOTION ALLOWING THE PUBLIC SAFETY BOARD TO DECIDE AN APPLICATION FILED BY THE OWNERS OF THE VERMONT YANKEE PLANT. LAST YEAR, THE SENATE VOTED DOWN A MOTION TO PERMIT THE PSB TO CONSIDER VERMONT YANKEE’S APPLICATION FOR A LICENSE EXTENSION. WOULD YOU SUPPORT A REVOTE? WHY OR WHY NOT?
“We need to shut Vermont Yankee down,” Steele said. “We have to shut that down. They’re saying it’s leaking into the drinking water now. Vermont’s mystique is not a nuclear power plant sitting in the middle of the southeast corner of Vermont. It doesn’t make any sense to have that.”
4) WOULD YOU SUPPORT A BILL IN THE LEGISLATURE THAT WOULD ESTABLISH A STATE RUN SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IN VERMONT? WHY OR WHY NOT?
“If the people want single-payer health care, let’s just do it,” Steele said.
He said that much of the difficulty in establishing single-payer health care in Vermont comes from President Obama’s health care bill, which requires states to implement the federal plan in 2014. States are allowed to apply for waivers to establish their own health care system, but those waivers can’t be obtained until 2017.
“Shumlin said he’s going to get waivers from the federal government,” Steele said. “Well, good luck trying to get waivers from the federal government.”
5) HOW CAN EDUCATION COSTS BE CONTAINED? SHOULD THE STATE MANDATE HIGHER STUDENT TEACH RATIOS OR MANDATORY BUDGET CUTS? PLEASE EXPLAIN.
Steele said that he supports giving power over schools back to the local communities—”locally owned and locally funded.”
“During the peak of Vermont’s freedom,” Steele said, “we had 2,500 schools in the state of Vermont, and those schools—we took care of ‘em. We had no problems. The community took care of the schools.”
He said that accommodations could be made for special needs students, but for the most part, he believes the system is just too big.
“Kids can’t walk to school anymore,” he said.