Shumlin's plans for success

Shumlin's plans for success

This column originally appeared in the Williston Observer on January 13, 2011.

Peter Shumlin is under no illusions about how tough he and even a friendly legislature are going to have it over the next two years. He said as much in his inaugural address almost two weeks ago, when he listed just a few of the fears of Vermonters, as he sees them:

"All across our state," Shumlin noted, "too many Vermonters are living in fear; fear that they might lose their jobs, face another pay cut, fail to keep their homes, send their children to college, afford health insurance or the secure retirement that they've always dreamed of."

The job of Vermont's government is to help relieve some of these fears while also doing its best to improve the lives of Vermonters in the long term. Toward this end, Shumlin wants to focus on improving the educational system and health care system in Vermont, as well as expanding broadband Internet coverage in the state.

These three issues, along with making Vermont's tax system more fair and supporting Vermont's agricultural industry, mark the five major points of focus that Shumlin said will be most important to his administration, and which he asked a joint session of the legislature to support.

Seeing the Vermont brand as a mark of quality that should be more heavily marketed in the major metropolitan areas that surround us - Montreal, Boston, and New York City - Shumlin has ambitions to grow jobs in the agricultural sector.

"The renaissance in Vermont agriculture is rooted in the growing concern by consumers across America about where and how their food is produced. Consumers are increasingly demanding locally grown, chemical free, high quality food," Shumlin said.

I know that I am spoiled, because when I go to my local grocery store, I think almost nothing of the cards that say this corn or that tomato was grown locally. It makes it easy for me to support local farms by buying food that I already know will be fresh, tasty, and of high quality. By leveraging the cachet of the "Made in Vermont" or "Grown in Vermont" label, we can make the list of staple Vermont products expand beyond ice cream, cheese, and maple syrup. The goal is to make even a lowly Vermont zucchini sought-after for a premium price.

I think that the answer to the nation's health care woes is a single-payer plan, or something approaching that sort of approach, and Shumlin wants Vermont to lead the way in showing the country that such a system is not only beneficial to the people, but to the state's treasury as well. By using technology, something I'm intimately familiar with in my work at GE Healthcare, Shumlin says that we can reduce costs and bring better outcomes. Combined with a state-sized pool of insured, rising costs can be reined in:

"That's why we must create a single-payer health care system that provides universal, affordable health insurance for all Vermonters that brings these skyrocketing costs under control. Let Vermont be the first state in the nation to treat health care as a right and not a privilege; removing the burden of coverage from our business community and using technology and outcomes-based medicine to contain costs."

As I noted, Shumlin is sure the issue is complex, but is equally sure that by bringing the right minds together, the challenge can be met: "I call upon single payer supporters to resist the temptation to oversimplify the challenge. I call upon skeptics to challenge us, but to join us at the table."

Shumlin addresses a concern that I have about any negotiation about a controversial subject - the tendency to under-emphasize unfortunate truths and over-emphasize minor features. We all do it, but when we're talking about the laws and policies of a state, or a nation, then these diminutions and exaltations become destructive to the process, and tend to push the sides further apart. I hope that Shumlin and his administration can bring the sides together and depolarize the debate, leading to productive discussion and compromise.

It is far too early to grade anything Shumlin has done, but his inaugural address reaffirms my belief that he is the right man for the job. I look forward to watching what he and the legislature bring to Vermont and Vermonters, and hope that in two years' time, they have helped pull Vermont out of our current economic doldrums and placed us on a path to success and national leadership.