I don’t think many people will agree with you period, but Vermont culture specifically doesn’t work like this. You gotta be born there or you’re a flatlander. I’ve met people who take this with varying levels of seriousness as native VTers are a rarer breed, but even the government there will deliberate hard before issuing VTer awards to flatlanders:

Whereas, individuals who were born in the Green Mountain State are rightfully proud of their special status as native Vermonters, and Whereas, while a flatlander may reside in Vermont for nearly an entire lifetime, and make an indelible contribution to the quality of life in this state, a flatlander still has not earned the right to be called a native Vermonter.

-the literal Senate of Vermont in 2001

I visited VT for the first time in a few years for two days last fall and had at a native remind me that I’d still never be from there if I moved back. Doesn’t bother me or anything, but I can’t imagine I’d ever see myself as from there even if I lived there for 80 years. I imagine Bernie feels the same way, especially with that accent. Rural VTers in particular acted like I was speaking another language when I spoke to them with my slight twang when I lived there the first time and I still got some confused faces in Burlington this past fall lol