Tour Report

The We Can’t Afford It Tour is approaching it’s last two stops. So far it has been a great success and very well received by the public. Montpelier has an attendance of nine people and Burlington had twenty-two. Both crowds were active and engaged. With the Burlington stop, we shot through the 100 attendees goal I set for the tour with a few to spare.

In Montpelier, Andy Potter of WCAX came to the meeting to report on the proceedings. He gave us a fair hearing and report. In Burlington, our meeting was to have ended exactly at 2 pm so that a meeting of Veterans for Peace could hold their regularly scheduled meeting in the same space. Interestingly enough, several members of the latter organization arrived early and sat in for the tail end of the presentation. After our meeting ended, a couple of members of the other organization approached me and complimented our efforts and message of citizen activism.
As usual, both of the meetings resulted in people hanging around for at least an hour talking amongst themselves. Some for socializing, some for information/discussion, and some for organizing future efforts. Very few left those meeting not energized to do more and with the feeling that they were no longer alone in their beliefs.

At one point in the Burlington Meeting, I was challenged by an audience member that what I was talking about was “Civic 101” and that I wasn’t offering an answer to the incredible problems pointed out in Tom Licata’s presentation. My reply was three-fold: 1) a majority of the public (including those in liberty movement) need to be reminded that citizenship is not just voting and paying taxes; 2) that the situation we are in is due to people leaving the problem of governance to other “professionals”; and 3) there is no silver bullet, one candidate, or one law that will cure all of the evils we face. It requires the constant vigilance and hard work of all citizens to turn the tide.

With Rutland (April 13th) and Saint Johnsbury (April 24th) to go, Tom and I hope to end the tour strongly. But even as we see the light at the end of the tunnel, a potential new stop or two could be in the making in either Colchester or Essex. So stay tuned.