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| <back | home Vermont Passes Resolution to Secede from the US by Greg Szymanski The members of a peaceful freedom group want no part of the neo-cons running the U.S. government, trampling on civil rights at home and invading countries at will overseas. A plan to secede from the United States is gaining momentum in the fiercely independent Green Mountain state. This October, at the state capital building in Montpelier, a historic independence convention was held, the first of its kind in the US since 1861, when North Carolina decided to leave the Union. A packed House Chamber in the Vermont statehouse, with more than 400 present, started the daylong convention with a keynote speech by James Howard Kunstler, author of The Long Emergency, and ended with a resolution passed to secede from the United States. Most people think of secession as impossible if not treasonous, but the concept is deeply rooted in the Declaration of Independence, reminding us that “Whenever any form of government becomes destructive, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it and to institute new government.” And with the neo-con takeover of Washington, including all its branches of government that is transforming America into a one-party dictatorship, that’s exactly what the resolution passed in Vermont seeks to do by members of a grassroots movement growing in numbers daily. Although the resolution is the first step in the long process that needs support from the state legislators -- as well as an officially recognized convention -- the grassroots group called Second Vermont Republic passed the following citizen’s resolution: “Be it resolved that the state of Vermont peacefully and democratically free itself from the United States of America and return to its natural status as an independent republic as it was between January 15, 1777 and March 4, 1791.” Even though critics give the secession group a snowball’s chance in hell, organizers are convinced that in the present-day tyrannical political climate, secession will not only succeed but will prosper. This could only happen in Vermont where people are still fiercely independent and fed up with the course the American government is taking,” said Thomas Naylor, head of the Second Republic of Vermont. “We have a lot going for us and if you think about it, we have a lot in common with Poland’s Solidarity movement, which many said would never succeed. “But Poland did get its freedom, mainly because it was a country liked around the world, sort of how people in America feel about Vermont. When people think of Vermont, they imagine Holstein cows and beautiful scenery. We are serious about getting the support needed to secede from the United States, and I can also tell you there is now closet support in the legislature. Naylor, a former Duke University economics professor, said from his Vermont home that statewide independence is really a euphemism for secession, adding that Vermont also will seek to join the group of Unrepresented Nations similar to the Lakota Indians and other international indigenous people. “Secession is one of the most politically charged words in America, thanks to Abraham Lincoln,” said Naylor, adding he had been writing about secession for the better part of 10 years but the movement picked up tremendous steam after 9/11. “Secession really combines a radical act of rebellion grounded in fear and anger with a positive vision for the future. “It represents an act of faith that the new will be better than the old. The decision to secede necessarily involves a very personal, painful four-step decision process. It first involves denunciation: that the United States has lost its moral authority and is unsustainable, ungovernable and unfixable. Second, there is disengagement or admitting I don’t want to go down with the Titanic. Third, there is demystification that secession really is a viable option constitutionally, politically and economically. And finally, defiance, saying I personally want to help take Vermont back from big business, big markets and big government and I want to do so peace-fully.” What started out as Naylor’s little fantasy to have an independent country made up of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, has already grown from a small group of 36 several years ago to the packed House Chamber. Claiming to have a membership of 160 as of last April, Naylor said the numbers have doubled or even tripled. “I’m getting calls from all over the country supporting our movement,” said Naylor. “Although there are more than 20 states with some kind of secession movement, Alaska and Hawaii being the best examples, I think Vermont really has the best chance at succeeding,” with its reputation of being fiercely independent and anti-big business. “First and foremost, we want out of the United States. “The reality is that we have a one-party system in this country, called the Republican party, that is owned and operated and controlled by corporate America. So it’s not just a Bush protest, but a protest against the Empire.“ Although many critics have said the mighty U.S. would not stand for Vermont’s secession, Naylor as will as others disagree, including Jim Hogue, a talk show host on Vermont Public radio. “There’s nothing they would want here. There’s no oil, just mountains. We’re just not important enough. We’re funny, we’re small and we’re peaceful,” said Hogue several months ago in an article in the Montreal Gazette. With most Vermont politicians, including the Congressional delegation, ignoring the grassroots secession movement or just laughing it off as good theatre, Vermont’s Lt. Gov., Brian Dubie, has weighed in on the issue, giving it a certain amount of merit but stopping short of outright support. “I really salute their energy and passion,” he said in a local press interview. “We have an obligation to think of what is in our best interest as a state and for the people out-of-state, even as we approach federal and national issues.” Besides Naylor and Kunstler, others who spoke at the Oct. 28 independence convention included Professor Frank Bryan of the University of Vermont; Kirkpatrick Sale, author of Human Scale; J. Kevin Graffagnino, executive director of the Vermont Historical Society; Professor Eric Davis, Middlebury College; Shay Totten, editor of the Vermont Guardian; and Dr. Rob Williams of Champlain College. http://www.rense.com/general68/secede.htm http://tinyurl.com/777fd <back | top^ |