BRATTLEBORO — “I would like to say one or two things about other things happening in our country.”
With those words, U.S. Senator and 2016 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., launched into a critique of the Trump administration and the Republican majority delivered to a packed house at the Latchis Theatre on March 16.
It's been nearly two years since Bernie Sanders has last visited Brattleboro, and it was clear he is as popular as ever.
Sanders was there to announce $300,000 of project funding to Windham Grows, a small business program in conjunction with Strolling of the Heifers. But the 800 people who filled the main floor and balcony of the historic theater weren't necessarily there to hear about economic development. They wanted to hear Sanders' take on the current political situation.
“The bad news is this president is moving us in exactly the wrong direction in every major issue facing our country,” he said.
'A disastrous proposal'
He started by discussing the American Health Care Act, the new Republican healthcare plan introduced as a replacement for the Affordable Care Act - or Obamacare, as many call it.
“The Republican leadership came up with a disastrous proposal,” Sanders said, pointing to the hits low-income and elderly Americans would face if it were to pass.
Sanders said millions of previously-covered Americans will suffer dire consequences and went on to call the bill a “moral disgrace.”
A longtime supporter of expanding the Medicare and Medicaid programs to all Americans, Sanders said it is a global embarrassment that the U.S. doesn't have a fully-functioning universal healthcare system like those the rest of the industrialized world enjoys.
“The Republican Party, it's supposed to be 'the party of choice,' but they want to de-fund Planned Parenthood - for two and a half million women, it's their choice for healthcare,” Sanders said.
He went on to address several more issues, pointing out that the majority of scientists believe climate change is real and that “even corporate America knows what Trump doesn't” when it comes to investing in solar and wind energy.
Standing together
He also called on everyone to stand together to defend the rights of undocumented immigrants, women, and the environment.
“I have traveled all over this country. What I want to tell you from the bottom of my heart, is that [the] views that you hold ... are the majority views of the American people. The views of Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell and those guys who want to give tax breaks to millionaires and cut healthcare and Medicaid - those are the fringe views that the overwhelming majority of the American people despise and disagree with.”
Sanders left on a positive note: “Our job in this difficult moment,” he said, “is to remember our history, remember the struggle of the Civil Rights movement, remember the struggle of the Women's Movement - 100 years ago today, women did not have the right to vote, to get the jobs they wanted or the education they wanted - remember the struggles of the gay community to stand up and fight, remember the struggles of the workers' movement.
“This is not a time for despair, it is not a time for people moaning and groaning about how burned out they are because they were at a demonstration three weeks ago. Now is the time for us to be as smart and creative as we can be. The vast majority of the people are on our side. The billionaire class and the corporate media are not. We can win this thing if we are smart, if we are gutsy, if we are prepared to engage in a political struggle in a way that we have never before.”
Entrepreneurs weigh in
Sanders was given a bag of goodies from the local businesses featured on stage for the Windham Grows presentation - True North Granola, Whetstone Associates, Good Body Products, the Restless Rooster, Tavernier Chocolates, Frabjous Fibers, and Sweet Basil Food.
Speakers from the state Agency of Commerce and Community Development, the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, and the Working Lands Enterprise Board all touted the success of Windham Grows and thanked Sanders for his support.
“To build the food and agricultural sector in Windham County, new enterprises need to be linked to tools and knowledge on business and legal matters,” said Katie Buckley of the Agency of Commerce.
All but one of the featured Windham County entrepreneurs on stage were women.
Jim Verzino, an entrepreneur who is helping to lead Windham Grows, said that being an entrepreneur is living in a “constant state of both fear and optimism,” noting that it can be a lonely place where one may neglect family and friends for an uncertain end goal.
Anne Latchis then spoke, mentioning the history of the Latchis Theatre and how her family immigrated from Greece and built several successful businesses.
“I don't think that was a word then, 'entrepreneur.' I think they were called 'immigrants,'” she said, as the crowd roared its approval.