From: Michael S. Lorrey (mike@datamann.com)
Date: Mon Mar 20 2000 - 12:29:33 MST
"Robert J. Bradbury" wrote:
> On Mon, 20 Mar 2000, Michael S. Lorrey wrote:
>
> > I don't know how much those of you else where, especially on the left coast,
> > have heard about the landmark new domestic partners bill just passed by the
> > Vermont Legislature.
> [snip]
>
> My interest in this is the opposite directions that Vermont and California
> seem to be going in. This would seem to give us a preview of the potential
> "enclaves" that may develop in terms of use of nanotech, biotech, medtech,
> privacy, etc. The question becomes -- would the people in Vermont view
> the situation in California as a sufficient violation of human rights
> as to go to war over it? Or is it entirely in the legal/governmental
> realms?
>
> Perhaps its a good thing that Vermont & California are on opposite coasts.
>
> It is however, completely suprising to me (as a conservative "Yankee"),
> that *Vermont* is going to the liberal side and those wacky Californians
> are going to the conservative side of this debate.
Those of us on the western border of New Hampshire have always noticed how much
more left wing and socialist Vermont is compared to New Hampshire and Maine. It
seems to be partly due to the massive influx of commune types in th 60's and 70's,
but also a lot of denizens of New York who got sufficiently sick of where things
were heading 5-15 years ago, but were both unwilling to adopt the 'mugged
democrat' conservative attitudes, or were wealthy enough to escape things, and
Vermont is always a good escape for tax plagued New Yorkers. There is a
significant gay and lesbian population in Vermont, and the gay pride parade in
Burlington, and the lesbian pride parades in Brattleboro (sans tops), are regular
head turners.
Of course, Vermont has the only Socialist member of Congress (Bernie Sanders, an
escapee from Brooklyn, and former mayor of Burlington, and publicly he is an
'indpendent', but that was a change he made only when he was in congress).
Of course, Vermont has its own wackiness in many ways to rival California. Can you
imagine a state that not only recognises gay rights but also says you don't need a
permit to carry a concealed weapon? It seems California is the opposite of Vermont
on more than just gay rights issues...
> Can the non-U.S. members of the list weigh in on trends in their countries?
>
> Robert
--
TANSTAAFL!!!
Michael S. Lorrey
Member, Extropy Institute
http://www.extropy.org
Member, National Rifle Association
http://www.nra.org
"Live Free or Die, Death is not the Worst of Evils."
- General John Stark
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