Last night, the number of independents in the Senate doubled. Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont both won their seats in landslide victories.
In 2012, at least fifty bona fide independent candidates have run for the US House and Senate. About twenty of those candidates have already withdrawn or been defeated.
A proposed anti-oligarchy amendment states that for-profit corporations are not people and are not guaranteed constitutional rights reserved to persons, that such corporations are subject to regulation by the states, and that they may not contribute to political campaigns.
The Pentagon has admitted it was wrong about basic facts relating to basing the F-35 stealth fighter-bomber in Vermont, so of course the announcement was made late last week in a story spun to be about public participation.
After numerous grassroots movements to get genetically modified food labeled, the Senate failed to pass an amendment that would allow states to do so.
If the Pentagon bases its new F-35 nuclear-capable attack fighter at Burlington International Airport, it is expected to put 1,366 nearby houses into a noise zone that the federal government defines as “incompatible with residential use”.
Our political campaigns have a serious and growing problem. Candidates for office rarely mention major issues facing their prospective constituencies, much less propose solutions.
