LETTER: Vote Early rally planned for Oct. 17 in Waterbury
September 29, 2026To the Community:
Because your voice matters, we will be hosting a Vote Early rally in front of the Waterbury town offices on Saturday, Oct. 17, from 10 to 11 a.m.
Everyone is invited to bring their completed ballots to the rally to deposit in the ballot box outside the offices. We are working to have live music from the Waterbury Community Band, coffee, juice and refreshments, as well as a donation table to collect non-perishable goods for the local food shelves.
We also want to spread the word that there’s a second ballot to vote in this election: the Central Vermont Career Center bond vote. Those ballots are not included in the mailing with the general election ballots. Voters can request them early, vote in person at their town office anytime before Nov. 3, or go to the polls on Nov. 3 to vote on the new CVCC planned for the U-32 campus.
I have been reading posts online about our upcoming gubernatorial race and I appreciate that the majority of the posts have been respectful.
Over the past year, I have been trying to better understand how our country, state and communities have become so polarized. If you talk to young Americans, the term “uniparty” inevitably comes up. The traditional Republican and Democratic parties had basically become the same party because both parties seem to represent corporate interests over their constituents.
In the past decade, many Americans have supported Trump, Bernie, Mamdani and AOC equally. Why? Because they are willing to challenge the status quo.
“It’s the economy, stupid,” is the rally cry of the party out of power. However, neither party has adequately addressed the underlying issues of a stagnant economy that started in the late 1970s.
I encourage you to learn more about how the economic policies of both parties for the last 40 years have led to a situation in which today's youth will be the first generation that will not have a better standard of living than their parents (and it is not because they are lazy, it’s because the economy is stacked against them).
Here are some links to online sources that I would like to share:
TED Talk by entrepreneur Nick Hanauer: “The Dirty Secret of Capitalism and a New Way Forward”
From economist, professor, author, and former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich: “Wealth and Poverty class 1” and “Wealth and Poverty class 2.”
And from Timothy Snyder, an American historian, author and University of Toronto professor specializing in Central and Eastern Europe, the Holocaust, and authoritarianism: “Oligarchy, Neo Fascism and Liberation.”
Thank you to all of the readers who have challenged themselves to expand their knowledge around history, economics, AI, the two-tiered justice system, and current politics. I hope that my posts over the past year have been thought-provoking in a way that has encouraged you to broaden your news sources. I hope that you are spending less time “doom scrolling” and more time reading books/in depth articles, engaging in social activities, and looking for ways to bring our community together.
As always, your neighbor and friend,
Carol Baitz
Waterbury