Vermont to Secede from Bush's America? posted by Reverend Chuck0 on Sunday December 12 2004 @ 10:47AM PST FREE VERMONT!? "Middlebury Declaration" Calls for Secession from Bush's America by Peter Lamborn Wilson Should Vermont secede from the USA and declare itself independent agains (as it was from 1777 to 1791) under the Second Vermont Republic? This question was posed to attendees at a conference and town meeting, both held in Middlebury, VT, on the weekend after the national election, Nov. 5-7; and in both cases the answer was a nearly-unanimous YES. The conference--Rad.Con 2--was organized jointly by the Second Vermont Republic (SVR) and the UK-based Fourth World Organization (publishers of Fourth World Review), which sponsored the first "Radical Consultation" in Britain in September 2001. Ameican historian Kirkpatrick Sale contributes regularly to Fourth World, and made the keynote speech at Rad.Con 2 in Middlebury. Fourth World proclaims itself (on the cover of each issue): "For Small Nations--Small Communities--Small Farms--Small Industries--Small Banks--Small Fisheries--& the Inalienable Sovereugnty of the Human Spirit." This "platform" is largely based on the writings of two 20th century philosophers, Leopold Kohr and EF Schumacher, summed up in the phrase "Small is Beuatiful" (the title of Schumacher's 1973 book). Radical decentralists, Greens, bioregionalists, "buddhist economists", socialists, libertarian marxists, anti-Globalists, tribal rights militants, neo-luddities, true federalists, true conservatives (i.e. conservationists and isolationists), anarchists--and even a few disgusted Democrats--can all find something to admire in this philosophy. The name Proudhon came up several times at Rad.Con 2, and I made sure to mention Lysander Spooner and the American Philosophical Anarchist view of secession: namely, that small states are less bad than big ones; that every state has a perfect right to secede, as does every town, neighborhood, family, group or individual; that every independent and autonomous individual and group has the right to federate freely with others. Administration and economic organization should be undertaken by revokable delegates to regional congresses; public defense by a people's militia, etc. This encapsulates the politics of what Benjamin Tucker called "the unterrified Jeffersonians": anti-authoritarian, agrarian and devoted to "direct democracy." The question posed to Rad.Con 2 delegates--"After the Fall of the American Empire, Then What?"--takes on extra urgency after the Nov. 2 elections. And it was meant to. SVR founder Prof. Thomas Naylor felt certain the Republican would "win" and that the conference would therefore be riding a wave of anger and confusion. The next four years should see the US Empire mired in Mid-Eastern war, vast debt, inflation, depression (both economic and psychic). More and more socialist-leaning governments will win elections in Europe and South America. Even now many Americans feel disgusted with Democratic Part waffling and hypocrisy and ready for something much more radical. If you don;t like the word "secession", call it "independence." Either way, it's American as apple pie. The most forceful and interesting talk I heard (because I missed the first day) was made by Don Livingston, a professor from Emorty University, whom Naylor called one of the philosophical gurus of the Second Vermont Republic. I heard that Kirkpatrick Sale's keynote address was also rousing. I was also very impressed by Prof. Naylor and his reborn Green Mountain Boys (and Girld), the core SVR membership. Particularly memorable were Jim Hogue and Gus Jaccaci, who acted the roles of Ethan Allen and Tom Jefferson at the Town Meeting on Saturday evening--as nice a bit of political theater as I've ever seen. The Town Meeting voted to make Jan. 15 a State holiday commemorating Vermont's independence and first Republic, launched on that day in 1777 when the region first seceded from New York anf the British Empire in one rash and dashing gesture of defiance. Oddly enough, it succeeded. Delegates to Rad.Con 2 came from England and other faraway places. The neighboring state of New Hampshire sent a delegate from their own Free State Project, a Libertarian-inspired political scheme aimed at greater local autonomy and perhaps secession. We heard about similar movements in other states, including Maine, Alaska, Hawaii, Texas, South Carolina and the commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Some of these separatist movements seem rather right-wing, others are more left-wing; all appear small, but all rather lively. We New Yorkers at the conference wished we could've said as much for our own home state. But at least we had the satisfaction of learning (from Prof. Livingston) that New York, along with Virginia and Rhode Island, actually reserved the right to secede when signing the US Constitution. Our revolutioanry Governor George Clinton was hilsef a radical democrat and Anti-Federalist who (under the pen-name Cato) attacked the Constitution as sheer counter-revolutionary reaction--which it was. (Sadly, Clinton opposed Vermont's right to secede from New York, and he hated Ethan Allen. During the Town Meetings, Kirk Sale acted the role of a disgrunteld Yorker and got bug laughs from the audience--who all seemed to remember the ancinet rivalry with great vividness.") On the last day (Sunday morning) the meeting room at the old Middlebury Inn was packed and humming. Most of the core delegates signed a resolution supporting world-wide separatist/secessionist movements (see below), drafted by Sale and others at dinner the previous night. All the delegates, attendees and guests in the room gave unanimous support to two resolutions--one supporting the formulation of a think-tank-type network to study independence movements everywhere; the second supporting the aims and goals of the Second Vermont Republic, approved to applause. The atmosphere in the room was excited and positive. RESOURCES: The Middlebury Declaration: http://www.vermontrepublic.org/writings/middleburydeclaration.html The Second Republic Journal of Vermont Independence http://www.vermontrepublic.org/ POB 1516 Montpelier, VT 05601 (sub. $20) Thomas Naylor, the Vermont Manifesto published by Xlibris, 1-800-795-4274 Naylor on Vermont, George Bush and Secession, from the Vermont Cynic: http://www.vermontcynic.com/news/2003/10/14/News/Thomas.Naylor.On.Vermont.George .Bush.And.Secession-526880.shtml Vermont Independence Day Petition: http://www.vermontindependenceday.org/pages/1/index.htm New Hampshire Free State Project http://www.freestateproject.org/ 74 Shirley Hill Rd. Goffstown, NH 03045 1-888-532-4604 Fourth World Journal ed. John Papworth POB 2410 Swindon, England SN5 4XN ------------------- Special to WORLD WAR 4 REPORT, Dec. 10, 2004 Reprinting permissible with attribution WW3Report.com ************************************************* http://www.worldwar3report.com/ Vigilant, Independent Sentry of Truth in the War on Terrorism http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=04/12/12/7231195 --
while it sounds nice, I believe it would cause a second civil war...after all, much to the disappointment of everyone intelligent, the south did rise again, and now it controls the country. NASCAR and Vince Gill will fill the air, whether we like it or not.
Sounds great to me, but then you might expect that from someone using the label "Green Secessionist". More power to them!
While Vermont is my home and I find the general socio-political climate to be the best out of any state in the nation. This would never happen. The governor of the state is a republican, he supports Bush and he supports the war. Now obviously he doesn't have the full say in this matter, but in general, if you were to take a survey about whether or not Vermont should succeed, the answer would be a resounding no. Vermont has far too resources to make it as an independent nation. The only reason why this was discussed this time and has been before as that per the state's constitution, vermont has a right to succeed from the US as an independent republic. It was a condition of joing the US back in the 1700's. Another discussion going on is that the town of Killington is actually trying to succeed from Vermont and be considered part of New Hampshire.
Bernie! Bernie! Bernie! also Jim Jeffords defected from the Republican party to become an independent a few years back after he realized how far to the right the party had moved. It was the first time in many years that a Senator did this.
hypothetically, if this would happen...what would that mean for me, as a college student in vermont? would anything change? though this won't happen, what are some of the thigns that i would face as a student in vermont?
Norwich would become guantanimo north under full control of the US military In addition to your studies - you would be required to guard jails housing snow bird insurgents, i.e. vermonters trying to retire to Florida.
ahahahahahaha, awesome response...i would think it would be somewhat of a base up there if nothing at all... i would leave if they tried to make me do that type of guard duty...what if i wanted to retire?
Seamonster 66, I have the identical pic La Espana Barcelona in the Gaudi garden. Great taste and great photo!!
I find it interesting that the Free State Project (which-as mentioned in the first post here-chose New Hampshire as its chice state), seems to have spawned movements around the country for individuals trying to resist government tyranny. In addition to the above link, I'll also advise checking out the url mentioned below faturing many diverse topics: http://freestateproject.org/getinvolved/liaisons/
this would never happen half of vermont is hippie love like, half is redneck nascar, take back vermont land...you can guess which side is full of hunters and gun owners.
Bush's America? Does that still exist since the 2008 elections? We're still repairing the damage of the Bush years.