To the editor,
I wish to thank the Mad River Valley Rotary for acknowledging Vermont’s unique history of standing up to authoritarians and asserting our identity and humanitarian values.
Even in the bubble of the Mad River Valley, none of us can claim ignorance of what is at stake. Presently, our leaders can offer us nothing but intentional division, another lie, a war they say isn’t a war, fear, pollution, economic inequality, and more cruelty. Some of these people in Washington don’t even look at us as if we are of the same species.
The point of having a government is to make sure that the citizens’ basic needs are met. Beyond having a super-bloated military and blowing up brown kids on the other side of the Earth, we could have healthcare, education, housing, and jobs guaranteed with a livable wage. If we could rid ourselves of putting up with being ruled by the One Percent who now own the Supreme Court, Congress, and the White House, and are continually whittling away on our First Amendment rights.
We will be in the streets all over this beautiful country because we still want to believe it belongs to decent people.
There will be many Antifa like myself in the parade and revelers joining in the spirit of the 400,000 Antifa veterans buried in Arlington Cemetery, along with the memory of my father, who served in the Battle of the Bulge.
July 4th belongs to the citizens. The Republican Party owns January 6.
Michael Levengood, Warren
