ObamaCare and Vermont and New Hampshire Mottoes

Freedom and Unity

State Motto of Vermont

Live Free or Die

State Motto of New Hampshire

Why do two contiguous New England States with homogeneous nearly all white populations and weirdly similar demographics have such wildly different politics?

Why does New Hampshire maintain its attitude of low taxes, less government, and more individual freedom?

Why has Vermont become a magnet for liberal left-wing politics?

Why has New Hampshire become a crucible for conservative ObamaCare opposition?

Why is Vermont the first state to formally introduce a single-payer health system?

Is it because New Hampshire has no state income or sales taxes? Is it because conservative Massachusetts expatriates like Senator Scott Brown have moved to New Hampshire?

Is it because Vermont has influential left-leaning academic institutions like Middleberry College , The University of Vermont, and Bennington College?

Is it because it has a Democratic legislature, a Democratic governor, and one Democratic Senator and one Socialist Senator. IS it because the co-owners of Ben and Jerry’s Ice cream, arguably its most famous business enterprise, are avowed liberals.

Or is it because the politics of the November midterms are upon us, and ObamaCare controversies make for powerful news stories with potentially huge audiences?

Is it because politicians are looking forward to 2016 when the first Presidential primaries will be held in the Granite State?

I suspect it is all of the above. The different politics of Vermont and New Hampshire reflect the partisan divide across America, but are made more dramatic by the jarring juxtaposition of the two similar states with dramatically different views of the world.

This week cable Fox News, the conservative news nemesis of mainstream news outlets, is taking advantage of diverse ObamaCare opinions by presenting a program entitled “Live Free or Die - ObamaCare in New Hampshire.”

The program will feature interviews with New Hampshire citizens favoring and opposing ObamaCare and will focus on consequences of a single health exchange plan covering most of the state, the narrowing of provider networks excluding 1/3 of the state’s doctors and hospitals, and premiums and deductibles rising 30% or more.

My response to all of this is to suggest new mottoes for the Vermont and New Hampshire.

Vermont’s new mottoes might be: “Conservative Death and Suffering.” “In Government, We trust.” “All for One, One for All.” “Death or Taxes.”

New Hampshire’s new mottoes could be:

“Loss of Liberty and Loss of Choice.” Or, “A Free Lunch , or A Free for All.” “In Ourselves, We Trust.” “Taxation without Representation is Tyranny.”