Victim’s rights -

There is precious little genuine justice for the victims of crime apart from a very few who benefit from the paltry funds raised by the victims compensation funds of the courts and the very small amount raised by interest on attorney’s escrow accounts. All too often, victims are victimized a second time as they obtain no restitution. While there is no possible restitution in cases of homicide, in most matters government imposes punishment as a cost to the taxpayers without compelling restitution for the victim. It makes little sense that victims are an afterthought. Karen will seek to have statutes provide for perpetrators to make supervised restitution rather than jail time. It has a much more lasting salutatory effect than a perpetrator sulking in jail and it is far less expensive for taxpayers.

Regulatory reform –

Nothing in our federal or state constitutions suggests or much less authorizes that government owns and we merely rent what we own. Yet, we have an incredible array of laws, and the consequent regulations which intrude on the liberty of using our property as we see fit. Legally, if we do something with our property that harms someone else, we are responsible for making full restitution. So there is clearly no need for the enormous bureaucracy involved with trying to control our property rights.

Similarly, government has no legitimate power to regulate what we may choose to ingest. That was adequately proven with prohibition and its subsequent repeal, when it became obvious that it was a driving force for crime. It has come to the point of some parts of government wanting to regulate the amount of salt, sugar and fats we ingest. Neither the nation nor the state has been given such powers by the people.
It has always been true of Americans and Vermonters in particular, that telling us what to do does not work. But, telling us why we should do something does persuade most folks if, and only if, the desired change has real merit.

Regulatory reform has particular value for the business community; the employers that provide jobs for people. Curbing the excesses of regulation will serve to invite business to relocate into Vermont, rather than chasing it out of Vermont. This is vital to keeping our young folks in Vermont and important to providing the tax base for the necessary government functions without unduly burdening taxpayers and property owners.

States rights and our fundamental rights –

The federal government has a limited set of powers; defined in Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution designated as the supreme law of the land in Article V, Clause 2. All other powers are invested in the states or the people per Amendment X, with any unenumerated rights belonging exclusively to the people per Amendment IX. All three branches of both the federal and the state government have violated these constitutional commands. Government is instituted among men for the benefit of the people, not for the profit of government servants. Do note that the constitution begins with a preamble, the first three words of which read, “We the people”; not “we the government”.

Karen will join numerous other states in suing the federal government to overturn the so called health care bill because it duplicates the efforts of our own legislature at no significant benefit to the people and a huge increase in the overtaxed people of Vermont. There are a number of federal programs the state is funding because federal participation has not been forthcoming in the amounts promised. It is unfair and outside of the powers of the federal government to demand states and the people fund programs not funded by congress.

Our religious rights have been attacked unmercifully in the legal forum in complete contravention of the first amendment which reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” It is appalling that the courts have neglected to apply the free exercise clause, deferring instead to a convoluted notion of the public forum being off limits to any display of faith; particularly the Christian faith. The founders invoked the faith in the Creator, even by name in their prayers and public pronouncements.