LAT: Secession -- a Revolutionary Idea in Vermont

[DeepModem Mom]

DISPATCH FROM WINDSOR, VT.
Secession -- a Revolutionary Idea
Some in Vermont want the state to again be an independent republic. Yet many see the effort, however earnest, as only an intellectual exercise.
By Elizabeth Mehren, Times Staff Writer
September 24, 2006


Independence
(Alden Pellett/For The Times)

WINDSOR, Vt. — This is prime country-fair season, when villages roll out moon-sized pumpkins, maple-flavored everything and, here at Heritage Days, a manifesto on why Vermont should secede from the United States.

At a card table outside the tavern where Vermont first declared its independence in 1777, delegates from the Second Vermont Republic — a.k.a. the secessionists — looked just as comfortable one recent Sunday as the vendors selling goat's milk soap. The "Free Vermont" flag fluttered as fairgoers stopped to discuss whether their state should pull out of the union....

***

Though the movement for Vermont secession that (Thomas) Naylor helped launch nearly three years ago is little more than an intellectual exercise, it is entirely earnest.

Its members argue that the U.S. government has lost its concern for individual citizens and small communities. They worry about global warming, the U.S. military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, unfair trade practices, and the "tyranny of multinational corporations."...

***

The 150 or so members of the Second Vermont Republic envision a country much like Switzerland — neutral and economically independent. They argue their cause at public gatherings and private events. Supporters march in parades and engage in political theater, sometimes reliving the early days when Vermont — like California — was its own republic....(T)he grass-roots secession campaign faces a major sales job. A recent study by the Center for Rural Studies at the University of Vermont showed that only 8% of respondents thought Vermont should separate from the U.S....

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-secede24sep24,0,1327170.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[Taverner]

1. Hey I totally think we Californians should secede!

California could pull it off, with its economy and size...

Besides, The USSR split up after the Cold War, why not the USA too?

[Demeter]

2. At the Very Least, We Could Let The South Rise Again

and they could concentrate on doing their own little part of the world in, and leave the sane people alone.

[Taverner]

3. But I would feel bad for all of the Southern DUers trapped...

behind enemy lines....

[depakid]

4. Interestingly enough Texans

Have a reasonable constitutional claim to succession if they want to go that route.

Personally, I wish they would- but then- they pretty well own the federal government these days- so why should they when they can spread the prevailing far right ideology all across the US?

[katty]

10. yup, here in CA many of us want to! I wld be glad to!

[Auntie Bush]

5. If they do vermonters are going to be pretty poor.

We don't have much industry...though plenty of service jobs and
"We got milk".

[bhikkhu]

6. But then again, they would abdicate responsibility for the national debt..

which is somewhere around 30k per person.

And I think if the choice were framed as "wealth and submission" vs. "freedom and poverty", the majority would choose freedom and poverty - knowing that history tells us the two do not naturally remain in conjunction for long.

[shrike]

7. But I'll be the first one to immigrate

And will pledge to do all I can to build the new Vermont.

Hey, I know this is not going to happen, but what a dream -- I LOVE Vermont!

[Tyo]

8. I think secession is an idea whose time is coming

This country is too large and, more importantly, too diverse to survive as both a single entity and as a functioning republic.

[bhikkhu]

9. and don't ponderously broke. n/t