The Left-Wing Freak Show

Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject Politics - Region: USA, , language: English, abstract: In a campaign ad aired in early 2004 by the conservative Club for Growth, Democraticpresidential candidate Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont, was scolded by twosupposedly average American people who advised him to "[...] take his tax-hiking,government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Timesreading,body-piercing, Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show back to Vermont, where itbelongs."1 The quote became quite famous for it apparently hit the nail on the head with itscharacterization of the divide between conservative and liberal America, the latter beingperfectly epitomized by the state of Vermont.While the dramatic exaggerations of campaign ads are rarely based on facts but onfeelings, the notion that politics in Vermont are decidedly liberal still prevails amongAmericans and observers from abroad. They are supported by such facts as a self-declareddemocratic socialist, Bernie Sanders, being elected United States senator in 2006, afteralready having served as a member of the House for 15 years. Sanders defeated hisRepublican opponent by an impressive 2-to-1 margin in the 2006 midterm elections. Votingrecords and public opinion polls on issues such as gay marriage or environmental issuesindeed suggest that Vermont is not only a stronghold for the Democratic Party, but for liberalideology in all its forms.Even though everyone seems to acknowledge that Vermont is a liberal state, onecrucial question has not yet been given much attention by media outlets and researchers alike:Why is it, that Vermont is so liberal? In fact, it seems quite puzzling that such a small, rural,and landlocked state should be a stronghold of cosmopolitanism and political awareness. Thisresearch paper therefore intends to analyze whether political liberalism is in fact a prevalentpolitical view in Vermont and, if so, why.