The Struggle of Neo-Liberal Vermont
White Papers has no qualms about asserting that we want the Historic American nation, a White nation derived from European stock, to remain and be strengthened as the core demographic group in the United States. We go so far as to track and write pieces on the demographic state of each of the country’s constituent states and we often equate the degree to which a state remains White with its current degree of safety, prosperity, and decency.
But this is not always or universally the case.
Another enemy we fight against is unchecked liberalism, specifically unchecked neoliberalism and the policymaking that derives from that ideology. Even in the Whitest states in the union, Democrat or Republican, Liberal or Conservative, the neoliberal framework of the current ruling class is destroying Whites, reducing birth rates, leading to masses of overdose deaths, and shoving many millions into poverty and desperation due to continually poor economic decision making by America’s leaders.
Everyone is aware that very poor West Virginia leads the rankings in overdose deaths (81 per 100,000), but few would be aware that very White and extremely left-wing Vermont is high up on this list as well
Demographic composition is not protecting Vermont from liberalism.
Today Vermont is the second Whitest state in the union with 89.1% of its population composed of historic Americans, their descendants, and related European peoples. Above Vermont, there is only Maine with a 90.2% White populace and in third place below Vermont, the state of West Virginia has an identical 89.1% White population. These two states, West Virginia and Vermont, could not be more different in culture, geography, climate, economic structure, or political outlook if they were separated by an ocean, yet they face many similar issues.
Vermont ranks #8 in the nation for drug overdose deaths and is the third highest largely-White state in these rankings. West Virginia ranks at the head of the pack both nationally and in the largely-White category with the first position while Maine is #5 in the nation for such deaths.
Deeply politically conservative and very White states like South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Montana, and Wyoming all rank in the bottom 10 in terms of drug overdose rankings. South Dakota has a rate of drug overdose death (11.3/100,000) four times lower than that of Vermont (45.9/100,000).
And it is not merely overdoses that Vermont ranks near the top of the pack with. In terms of overall drug use, the state almost leads the nation. Some 23% of Vermonters make regular use of illicit drugs every month, according to the 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
Deeply politically conservative status such as those in the heartland have drug use rates less than half of Vermont. While the culturally conservative but politically mixed post-industrial Midwest (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, etc) have drug use rates eight to ten points lower than that of Vermont.
The social decay is not limited to drugs, either. Vermont, despite having a relatively high marriage rate and a relatively low divorce rate, has the lowest fertility rate in the nation. Only 44.3 children are born per 1,000 women (aged 15–44) in the state each year. This is now only the lowest rate in the nation but extremely low when compared to other very White states such as South Dakota which boasts 66.5 births per year per 1,000 women.
This low fertility rate is underpinned by a very high abortion rate of roughly 11 abortions per 1,000 women (aged 15–44) in the state. Vermont is, by far, the most pro-abortion state with a White supermajority. Vermont is near the top of the pack (top 20) alongside very non-White states such as New York, Nevada, New Jersey, and Florida.
In a final sad social statistic, Vermont ranks among the top 20 states in the nation for its rate of suicide. Among very-White states Vermont ranks in the top ten ‘most suicidal’ states alongside Montana, Wyoming, North and South Dakota, and just behind West Virginia. It is clear that adherence to liberal ideological positions and a generally left-wing disposition is not sparing Vermont from the same social ills as the White heartland states, nor is Vermont coming out ahead fiscally or economically because of its dedication to the current order.
Vermont is also one of the most indebted states in the union. Vermont boasts the 8th highest rate of state debt-to-GDP in the country and is the only one of two significantly White states in the top ten, with the other being very White very conservative West Virginia in first place.
Vermont also ranks highly in the pack of very-White states in terms of the level of household debt held by its residents. Vermonters hold a debt-to-income ratio of 1.4, much higher than the debt-to-income ratio of very-White very conservative states such as Iowa, Nebraska, or South Dakota but lower than other red states such as Montana, Idaho, and Utah. Other more socially liberal White states such as Maine and New Hampshire also hold higher personal debt rates among their populations.
Perhaps unsurprisingly Vermont ranks second to last in the nation in terms of economic prospects and growth projections according to the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Rich States Poor States” report.
The report examines tax rates, ease of doing business, inheritance taxes, minimum wage, average compensation per worker, and more.
Vermont not only has some of the highest taxation in the nation (ranking in among the 10 most tax-burdensome states in the union) but also boasts some of the lowest rates of compensation in the nation. The average compensation for a Vermonter ranks just 45th in the nation while the minimum wage in the state ranks a poor 36th after those wages are subject to the state’s high level of individual taxation.
Conclusion:
Vermont is a highly taxing, poorly compensating, economically stagnant, and socially degrading state in part because of its happy adherence to neoliberal ideology and the vanguard of left-wing social ideology.
The state’s White demographic composition has not spared it from the same social ills and struggles with deeply White and deeply Conservative West Virginia experiences and in many cases, Vermont struggles more with these social ills than other White states such as South Dakota or Iowa.
Vermonters, like all Americans, deserve significantly better than what they are getting and that will only come about once the core of modern neoliberal ideology is challenged and defeated in the political realm.
