Vermont, home of Ben & Jerry's, maple syrup, and casual Stalinism.

Now every child can aspire to be the next Pavlik Morozov, hero of the state, and champion of the people!

(By the way, things didn't turn out all that great for Pavlik.)

It's not like the Governor wants to, it's just one of those "unfortunate" things.

"Unfortunately, we know some will still get together and schools have asked for help. @VTEducation will direct schools to ask students or parents if they were part of multi-family gatherings and if the answer is yes, they'll need to go remote for 14 days or 7 days and a test."

I'm sure there won't be any lasting emotional damage when, after innocently penning, "What I Did Over Thanksgiving," a young child's parents lose their jobs and the entire family goes under house arrest.

It's just a "health check!" Health checks are good right?

"Vermont Gov. Phil Scott said during a press conference on Tuesday that schools in the state will include new questions during daily health checks about whether students and their parents attended gatherings outside of their households following the Thanksgiving holiday."

"And I saw my granma, and granpa, and we all had a turkee together, and stuffing, and why do I have to go home?"

When asked if this policy was in essence asking kids to tattle on their parents, the Governor responded with great empathy.

"If you don't want your kids to have to transition to remote learning and quarantine for seven days maybe you ought to make other plans."

I'm sorry, did I say empathy? I meant antipathy.

"We're asking people to tell the truth to protect others. I don't think that's tattling."

That's kind of exactly what tattling is.

"The top education official backed up the governor's chilling proposal by shaming students into 'doing the right thing' by essentially ratting out their families for getting together over Thanksgiving."

There is nothing at all sinister about agents of the state leveraging their power together with the natural honesty and innocence of young children to get dirt on their parents, so stop thinking that right now.

"'Schools operate on trust,' Secretary of Education Daniel French said. 'We are hopeful this will give our schools additional tools to do the right thing and keep students safe.'"

They're just giving the schools "additional tools."

I don't recall putting that in their toolbox.