Posts Tagged ‘benjamin todd state representative barton libertarian republican orleans-calendonia-1’
Benjamin Todd enters State Representative race in Orleans-Calendonia-1. Ben will be representing the towns of Albany, Barton, Craftsbury, Glover, Greensboro, Wheelock, Orleans, Sheffield.
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7/30/06
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Benjamin Todd of Barton is pleased to announce his candidacy for the Vermont house in the Orleans-Caledonia 1 district. This includes the towns of Albany, Barton, Craftsbury, Glover, Greensboro, Sheffield and Wheelock.
He is seeking both the Libertarian Party nomination and the Republican Party nomination. The Libertarian Party will nominate candidates on July 31 2006, and the Republican Party primary will be held in September.
I would like to touch on a few issues that are important to me.
Property rights: Current Vermont septic law forces anyone who is building a house to hire an engineer to design a septic. The problem being that there are not enough engineers, and they are very costly. My solution is to offer a licensing program for contractors, builders, and /or homeowners. They could take a course in septic design and then would be able to build a septic system for a fraction of the cost of an engineer.
Vermont needs to have a policy on wind towers. Instead of tying up companies for years only to deny the permit we should have a streamlined legal process to either quickly approve or deny the application.
Taxes: Property taxes are out of control. We need to find a better way to fund education then property taxes or give control of schools and how they are funded back to the towns. Even since the state “fixed” the education problem by taking property tax money and then doling it back out we have seen huge tax increases that are much more then people bargained for.
Currently state federal and local governments take over 40% or the average Americans income. That means you work for over 1/3 of the year just to pay taxes. Although I can not do anything about the federal government, I will work to cut taxes across the board by privatizing many of the services that the state now offers. A private company will be much better at stopping abuse, and will be able to manage many programs in a fiscally responsible manner.
Healthcare: A big problem for many Vermonters is a lack of decent health insurance. Laws passed restricting insurance companies in Vermont have driven all but a few out of the state. Many candidates are supporting a Canadian style health care system where the government pays all medical bills. If anyone watches the Canadian news they would hear constant stories about people on 6 month waiting lists to see a doctor. I am supporting a Swiss style health care system. First we would eliminate all restrictions on health insurance companies. Second we would build a safety net to cover the costs above 10% of a person’s income. This would insure that seniors, disables persons, or people with pre-existing conditions would have quality private health insurance while keeping rates low for others.
Personal freedom and responsibility:
I believe that individuals have the right to live their lives as they see fit as long as they do not infringe on the rights of others to do the same. Individuals are also solely responsible for their own actions.
Benjamin Todd lives in Barton with his wife Kelly and their two children Gabrial and Brooklyn. He ran for state house on 2004 as a Libertarian, and is a member of the Vermont Libertarian Party state committee. He is a member of the Castle coalition (citizens against eminent domain abuse).
To join the Todd for house email list just send an email that says “subscribe” to
To volunteer you can email me at the same address.
Boston Globe: High Court rejects Vt. campaign restrictions
… “This ruling undermines Vermont citizens and … In an interview, Roger Pilon , vice president for legal affairs at the libertarian Cato Institute, said he was …
LP Blog: Supreme Court Sides With Free Speech in Vermont Campaign Finance Case
Here is a letter-to-the-editor that appeared in the Times Argus yesterday by Hobie Guion. These types of letters are becoming more typical as voters are growing tired of the old parties.
Public must demand more accountability
http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060401/NEWS/604010303/1022/EDUCATION05
April 1, 2006
“The Democrats like to regulate business and de-regulate people, while the Republicans like to regulate people and de-regulate business” is a political adage that, like all adages, occasionally takes shape as truthful.
Whenever I think of issues such as gay rights, abortion or privacy rights within the USA Patriot Act, I think most Democrats are for less government intrusion and more personal responsibility, while many Republicans wish for the opposite.
Currently, there’s an adage that has gained a lot of ground over the last several years: “Democrats like to throw money around and Republicans like to throw money to their friends.”
With tax cuts consistently tilted heavily toward the wealthy, the deregulation of megacorporations undertaken so they can merge into bigger-but-fewer megacorporations, the absolute giveaway of the public airspace, and the proliferation of no-bid contracts, among many other instances, we can see that the well-to-do friends of this Republican administration have done even better. With the corruptive greed of Republicans such as DeLay, Abramoff, Scanlon, Frist, Ney and others, I find that our republic is doing far worse.
As an example that will hopefully stir voters of both parties to demand more integrity from their government, consider the following. Before the election of 2000, Halliburton was number 18 on the list of who received the most money via contracts with the Defense Department. Since the election of Halliburton CEO Dick Cheney to the vice-presidency and the awarding of no-bid contracts for Afghanistan, Iraq and Katrina, they’ve zoomed up to number one. Isn’t this simply wrong?
I strongly believe that the people of the United States have not only a right, but a duty to demand more integrity, honesty and openness from our government. The present shameless grab for money and power is an affront to all Americans.
Hobie Guion
East Montpelier
