Things I Love(d) About My State

Bring it on.

I'm a Vermonter, through and through. 13th generation New Englander, 7th generation Vermonter.

You can take the gal outta Ve-mont, but ya can' take the Ve-mont outta the gal.

(That's a joke, people. None of us can pronounce "Rs" or "Ts". It took me $2500 of speech therapy in the 1980s to get rid of my accent and I regret every penny of it.)

But here's a short list of what I love (Besides the mountains... when I go home, my mountains encompass me.. they make me feel good. Places like Buffalo --completely flat--drive me to tears with a few hours. How do people LIVE in flat places? I'll never understand that...)

Vermont:

Need a gun permit? Nope.

Need a permit for concealed carrying? Nope.

Balanced budget? Yup. Always. It's in the state Constitution.

Walk around on unposted land? Yup. It's up to the owner to post it. (Folks take it VERY seriously! ) But Lord help ya if you walk around on POSTED land. The whole town will show up with pitch forks and tiki torches at your door. Don't go gettin' the local folks all tied up in their britches. It won't go well for you.

A felony (say for a still) will impede having a gun? Nope.

Good Samaratin Laws (not just protecting you). Yup, and oddly, IT'S AN IMPERATIVE. Every Vermonter has a duty to assist a stranded or hurt person (probably because the weather and isolation makes it too easy to die in a minor accident). <<-- and the idea that you may stumble upon a dangerous person and help them? Well, go back to the whole "everyone is armed" thing.

More trees than people? Yup.

Full of natural resources? Yup

Cheap land? Eh, it depends. Some areas of the state are more economically depressed than others, so thus the land is cheaper.

Legal Attitude: "Do whatever floats your boat, as long as you're not hurting anyone else" attitude? Ohhhhhh Yeah. Almost EVERYTHING is legal. (except jacking deer)

Beauty? Yup. Even billboards are outlawed. "Mamma didn't raise no fool." That crap on the highway is an eye soar.

Politics: A very (ahem) rebellious attitude (especially with federal govt)? Oh yeah. 1700s: Vermonters elected Mathew Lyons while he sat in jail for heresey; 1941: Vermont declared war on Germany a few months ahead of the US.; 1983: Vermont was forced to raise the drinking age to 21. One of the lasts states to do so on 12/2/83 (I remember that day--I'd already turned 18, so I could still drink!) 2005s: Entire state votes to "end the war and bring the boys home"-- because nearly everyone in the state joins the Green Mountain Boys (the National Guard) and at that time most of the dead in Iraq were disproportionatly from Vt. 200 out of the 251 towns sent men and women to serve. Two years in, Vermont had the highest per capita death toll of any state.

Having lived all over the US, judged by the criteria or "liberty and survival" I'd chose Vermont.

Is it "liberal"? --well, if you define that as wanting the government OUT of your business... then I suppose yeah. It's really liberal.

Note: I had to explain this to El Esposo, because he was dumbfounded. "Your state has that LAX gun laws? And no one has shoot-em ups?"

I can't really explain the concept of "neighborliness" combined with "politeness" to people who haven't experienced this in a place where (because of the remoteness) that's how life is.. but you get a darned skippy polite with people that you know may end up saving your butt... a washed out road, a huge snow storm... what ever. You might be relying on that person to save your life next year.

The world gets a whole lot more open when you have to rely on your neighbors.

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Things I Love(d) About My State