Vermont. A History. Government: Small is Beautiful

William Allen White once told Dorothy Canfield Fisher that he finally figured out why Vermont politicians were such honest souls. The explanation, said he, lay in the fact that there were not many nickles circulating in Vermont, and because everybody knew where they were at any given time it was nearly impossible for any state official to steal one.

Half of Vermont's population lives in 24 of its 246 towns. The U.S. Postal Service zip code directory lists all of Vermont's zip codes on a single page, with space to spare.

The mountains divide eastern and western Vermont into separate sections. Historically the east was more conservative; nineteen of the first twenty-one Congregational churches in Vermont were in the Connecticut Valley, whereas Ethan Allen and his irreligious freethinkers located on the western side.

Vermonters realize how close they are to major metropolitan areas but also how distant they are from the everyday exasperation of big-city commuters. It is easy to be smug in such moments, but it makes a person wonder how much longer Vermont can enjoy the best of these two worlds.

In Vermont citizens don't look upon their two senators and congressmen in Washington as strangers. Citizens probably know their state representative--or the representative knows where constituents work, or live, or who their children married.

Vermont at times appears to be David, slaying the Goliath of the Big Interests. In 1970 the Vermont legislature approved the most far-reaching environmental legislation passed to date by any state when it added Act 250 to the Vermont statues. The act requires all land developments of more than ten acres (or as small as one acre in towns which lack zoning and subdivision controls) to abide by the State Land Use and Development Plan. It requires developers in Vermont to guarantee before they build that water sources and sewage disposal are adequate, that pollution and erosion won't occur, that natural resources, scenic areas, and historic sites won't be harmed, and that roads can bear the traffic and schools can absorb the children when the population grows. An environmental board and seven district commissions implement the plan.

In Vermont the immediacy of government suggests that the state is a textbook on how civic affairs can operate responsively.

Press coverage by Vermont daily newspapers and the wire services is detailed and often probing. This watchfulness keeps bureaucrats and politicians alert and responsive. When the Vermont Department of Highways opens bids from contractors for road construction or repair projects the specific amounts from all the bidders is broadcast during the noon hour by Vermont's most influential radio station, WDEV in Waterbury.

Source: Vermont. A History by Charles Morrissey (p. 39-48)