[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 39 (Tuesday, March 2, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S988-S990]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

                                 ______
                                 

            VERMONT STATE OF THE UNION ESSAY CONTENT WINNERS

 Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, since 2010, I have sponsored a 
State of the Union essay contest for Vermont high school students. This 
contest gives students in my State the opportunity to

[[Page S989]]

articulate what issues they would prioritize if they were President of 
the United States.
  This is the contest's 11th year, and I would like to congratulate the 
319 students who participated. It is truly heartening to see so many 
young people engaged in finding solutions for the problems that face 
our country. To my mind, this is what democracy is all about.
  A volunteer panel of Vermont teachers reviewed the essays and chose 
William Taggard as this year's winner. William, a junior at Brattleboro 
Union High School, wrote about the State of our Nation's democracy. 
Emilia De Jounge, a sophomore at Burr and Burton Academy, was the 
second place winner. Emilia wrote about gun control. Simon Rosenbaum, a 
junior at Vermont Commons School, was the third place winner, with an 
essay on democracy.
  I am very proud to enter into the Congressional Record the essays 
submitted by William, Emilia and Simon.
  The material follows:

     Winner, William Taggard, Brattleboro Union High School, Junior

       In the wake of the Watergate scandal of 1972, author and 
     journalist Frank Herbert remarked that ``good governance 
     never depends upon laws, but upon the personal qualities of 
     those who govern. The machinery of government is always 
     subordinate to those who administer that machinery.'' The 
     current administration has overseen an unprecedented 
     undermining of trust in our government, the scale of which is 
     scarcely rivaled in our nation's history. The subsequent 
     damage leads us to Herbert's inevitable conclusion: ``The 
     most important element of government, therefore, is the 
     method of choosing leaders.''
       Our democracy has been under unprecedented pressure in 
     recent months, culminating in the insurrection in our 
     nation's capital. Fortunately, democracy and the truth have 
     prevailed. However, our current system leaves ample room for 
     improvement: namely the electoral college. We face a 
     fundamental problem that puts at risk one of the most 
     essential assets of our great nation. We need to review the 
     merits of the electoral college and determine how best to 
     protect our democratic process. Two of the last three 
     Presidents elected have failed to secure a majority of the 
     popular vote, suggesting that while the Declaration of 
     Independence states we are all created equal, our current 
     democratic system makes some votes more impactful than 
     others. A select number of ``swing states'' hold a 
     disproportionate amount of power in determining the outcome 
     of a race.
       A short term solution to the flaws of the electoral college 
     system is the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact 
     (NPVIC). This is an agreement between states to award all of 
     their electoral votes to the candidate that wins the national 
     popular vote. To become effective, its signatories must 
     control at least 270 electoral votes. Currently, they hold a 
     total of 196 votes, with another 67 pending. By eliminating 
     ``swing states,'' the NPVIC would spread voting power 
     equally, regardless of which state you live in. This change 
     would force politicians to campaign not only to ``swing 
     state'' voters, but to everyone.
       Long term, it is in the country's best interest to consider 
     alternate methods of voting. Our current system forces voters 
     to pick between two popular candidates rather than support 
     their true favorite, but this dynamic only arises from our 
     pick one voting system. Methods such as approval or instant 
     runoff voting can combat polarization, legitimize third 
     parties, and eliminate spoiler candidates; forms of 
     proportional representation can transcend gerrymandering and 
     incentivize cooperation through coalition building. These 
     practices allow voters to voice their conscience without 
     worry of ``wasting'' their vote and fix many of the problems 
     our current system has.
       The importance of choosing good leaders has perhaps never 
     been more apparent--divisive rhetoric dominates the political 
     sphere, suffocating any chance at productive discourse. As 
     President-elect Joe Biden cautioned, ``the words of a 
     president matter.'' We would be wise to ensure that those 
     words come from a leader whose authority derives not from the 
     exploitation of the electoral system, but rather from broad 
     consensus and a commitment to the growth and prosperity of 
     our nation.

   Second Place, Emilia deJounge, Burr and Burton Academy, Sophomore

       Columbine, Sandy Hook, Parkland . . . every parent's worst 
     nightmare, yet what has America done to prevent another? A 
     study by the American Journal of Medicine in 2016 found that 
     Americans are 25 times more likely to die from gun homicide 
     than people in other wealthy countries. Our futile attempts 
     at gun control have seen little success, as gun violence 
     rates are still steadily rising, increasing almost 25% from 
     2019 to 2020. The right to bear arms is in our Constitution, 
     yet that does not negate the need for sound and rational 
     policies around the sales of firearms. Currently, nearly 400 
     million guns are privately owned in the US, more than the 
     country's population, with sharp increases in recent years. 
     Gun violence needs to be recognized and addressed as a top 
     priority public health issue.
       ``It is much easier to be a legal gun owner in the US than 
     it is to be a legal driver,'' says David Hemenway, director 
     of Injury Control Research at Harvard. A first step to 
     prevent gun violence is to make it more difficult to purchase 
     a gun through safe gun-owning training programs and requiring 
     registration of all gun purchases. According to the State 
     Firearms Law project, just seven states require a permit to 
     possess a gun of any kind. A 2014 study in the Journal of 
     Urban Health found that Missouri's 2007 repeal of its permit-
     to-purchase handgun law was associated with a 25% increase in 
     firearms homicide rates.
       Another important step to combating gun violence is 
     investing in research. According to a 2017 study published in 
     the Journal of the American Medical Association, gun violence 
     research should have received $1.4 billion from 2004 to 2015, 
     based on mortality rates and funding levels for other leading 
     causes of death, but only received 1.6% of the projected 
     amount. According to Dr. Elinore Kaufman, chief resident in 
     surgery at New York-Presbyterian, ``we know far less about 
     gun violence as a cause of injury and death than we do about 
     almost every medical problem.'' In 1996, the NRA pressured 
     Congress to pass the Dickey Amendment mandating that no CDC 
     funds could be spent on research that promotes gun control, 
     which has impaired our ability to make informed legislation.
       We can look to other nations to see that gun control works. 
     Germany has been successful in upholding the rights of its 
     citizens, yet preventing unnecessary deaths. With one of the 
     highest weapons-per-head rates in the world, Germany 
     maintains one of the lowest gun homicide rates in Europe: a 
     death rate of 0.05 per 1,000 people, compared with 3.34 in 
     the US, and the rate in Germany is decreasing. This 
     accomplishment is due to strict gun laws which include 
     psychiatric evaluations, random spot checks, and limits to 
     numbers of guns per person. The US can enact its own version 
     of these laws while upholding the rights of citizens. Gun 
     violence is a widespread disease plaguing our country which 
     can be prevented through more effective control policies.

      Third Place, Simon Rosenbaum, Vermont Commons School, Junior

       This past year terrified me. It was not just the carnage 
     and isolation of the pandemic. I wasn't afraid of war in 
     Iran. I was afraid because a United States Senator said it 
     was okay to assault peaceful protestors in front of the White 
     House for a photo op and negate the constitutional right to 
     assembly. I was afraid because the President of the United 
     States is fighting to subvert the cornerstone of our 
     democracy: our election process. I was afraid because the 
     America I love and believe in felt like it was on the brink 
     of collapse. The most pressing issue that we as Americans 
     face today is the preservation of our democracy.
       Before and after the November election, people on all sides 
     of the political spectrum have carried on about policy and 
     rhetoric, conspiracy theories and misinformation. No one 
     seems to understand the gravity of the situation. What makes 
     America special is our belief in a functioning democracy and 
     an uncompromising defense of our constitutional rights. My 
     ancestors came to America to grant that to me. Our 
     predecessors built that for all of us. The one inheritance 
     bestowed upon every American is the dignity of being 
     American. This year, our democracy was pushed to the brink, 
     our rights were subverted, and the dignity of America was 
     cast aside. To me, this felt like the end.
       Of course, it was not the end. We Americans kept fighting 
     for a more equitable, democratic union and it looks like our 
     democracy will survive. My concern is for next time. What 
     happens if next time, the system is assaulted by a savvy 
     politician, someone who understands the systems they hope to 
     destroy? This year, we saw that people in positions of power 
     would do anything to keep it.
       To preserve the union and our nation, we must eliminate the 
     possibility for a President to wield unitary executive 
     authority. Diminishing the power of the Executive Branch will 
     mitigate the damage that an unfit executive could cause. We 
     must also depoliticize judicial appointments, and instate a 
     nonpartisan federal oversight commission independent of the 
     executive branch to ensure that political leaders are working 
     for the people.
       Additionally, we must rebuild our demoralized, undervalued 
     federal public service. These patriotic, nonpartisan public 
     servants have been caught in the crosshairs of this attempted 
     coup, and we must put them first as we rebuild from this 
     sabotage of the framework of our country. They are the ones 
     who put their careers and in some cases their lives on the 
     line to save America. Now we must repay that priceless debt. 
     Increasing protections for whistleblowers, creating a federal 
     public service academy similar to our military academies, and 
     simply paying public servants more for the invaluable work 
     they do will make great strides in strengthening the system 
     against assault next time.
       This past year, the great American experiment almost came 
     to an end. The most pressing issue we face now is how do we 
     make sure this never happens again?

[[Page S990]]

  

                          ____________________