Valerie Book Valkyrie’s Reviews > Bernie for Burlington: The Rise of the People's Politician > Status Update

In the fall of 1989 Sanders was a fellow at Harvard's Institute of Politics where he led a not-for-credit study group on third parties, "I know that conservatives worry a great deal about Harvard. They see it as a bastion of progressive thought, a brain trust for the revolution. They can stop worrying. Harvard has many wonderful attributes, but the revolution will not begin at Harvard University."

Cable companies were required by law to make resources available to the public;in 1987 Chittendon County Television (CCTV) was founded. Sanders, who had dreamed since the '60s of wresting power from the corporate media, implored Burlington "to use the channel, use the technology."
Pie eating, tree planting & square dancing on CCTV was immediately condemned by Bernie's antagonists as agitprop for the progressives. LOL

The People's Republic of Burlington:Though Cindy Lauper quickly came & went, & Supertramp was banned,a vibrant scene of artists, writers, & performers matured organizationally in Burlington during the 70s. When Bernie emerged in 1981 as a mayoral candidate, this eager community was there to greet & help him.Running as an Ind self-described socialist, Sanders defeated incumb Dem Mayor Gordon Paquette by just 10 votes

A rewardingly comprehesive work with a bit too much repetition and personal interjection of the author's own life events.

Burlington had never seen anyone like Bernie Sanders:the hair, the clothes, the glasses, the voice paid political dividends throughout the 1970s.Bernie sought the national spotlight in part to bring his cityhall foes out of the shadows. To many it seemed grandiose:Sanders was elected by people who didn't want their property taxes to go up,now he spoke of Burlington, population 38K, as having "its own foreign policy."

In 1980 the wider world arrived in the dens of Vermonters statewide with the arrival of "Eleven Alive", Channel 11 WPIX out of NYC. Chiller Theater showed B-movies about severed hands with minds of their own. Kids were doing schoolyard impressions of Crazy Eddie, "His prices are IN-SANE" and the phlegmy spokesmsn for Carvel ice cream describing tantalizing ice cream cakes sold nowhere near Vermont (¬_¬") 🎂.

In 1970 Vermont passed Act 333, banning billboards, which has remained in effect to this day ( ˘͈ ᵕ ˘͈♡)
Soon after, Act 250 was passed: a land use and development law that aims to balance environmental protection with sustainable development. By 1980, with a surge in out-of-state developers looking to foil Act 250, Burlington residents backed Bernie Sanders to help save their turf from further urban sprawl (ㅅ´ ˘ `)

The most beautiful bridge in Vermont can be found in Proctor, constructed from pure white local marble:


The marble quarries created astonishing wealth for their owners. This part of VT was home to Big Business conservatives, union busters, & the Proctor family fiefdom, but not for long...

1930s Vermont: eugenicist Henry Perkins assigned his field researchers to "first, locate the inadequates in VT & second, find out why they exist." In 1931 a sterilization law was passed. The main groups affected: the poor, the disabled, French-Canadians, & Abenakis.
Laud the farmer who pickled but if he distilled alcohol or hung pelts in the kitchen, VT could sterilize him, forbid him to marry, or take his children