Historic Vermont Secession Meeting Held


Greg Szymanski

The members of a peaceful freedom-fighting group want no part of neo-cons
running the imperialistic U.S. government. Plan to secede from the U.S.
gaining momentum in the fiercely independent Green Mountain state.

The neo-con band of criminals running Washington, trampling on civil rights
at home and invading countries at will overseas, has led a large group of
strong-minded Vermont freedom-fighters with no choice but to secede from the
United States.

And last Friday at the state capital building in Montpelier, a historic
independence convention was held, the first of its kind in the United States
since May 20, 1861, when South Carolina decided to leave the Union.A packed House Chamber in the Vermont statehouse, with more than 400
gathered, started the daylong secession convention with a speech by keynote
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 transforming America into a one-party dictatorship, that’s
exactly what the resolution passed in Vermont seeks to do by members of
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 grass roots group called the Second Vermont Republic passed
the following citizen’s resolution:
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“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 firmly convinced 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, the head of the group calling itself 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, who many said would never
succeed.

“But Poland did get its freedom, mainly because it was a country liked
around the world, sort of like how people in America feel about Vermont.
When people think of Vermont, they have a warm and fuzzy feeling, an image
of black and white Holstein cows and beautiful scenery. I can also tell you
there is now closet support in the legislature now and we are serious about
getting the support needed to secede from the United States.’

Naylor, a former Duke University economics professor, said from his Vermont
home this week that statewide independence is really a euphemism for
secession, adding 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 peacefully.’”

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 a packed House Chamber in the state’s
capital. 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 at seceding.”

Besides holding the Vermont independence convention in Montpelier, the
smallest state capital city in the United States, it also has the reputation
as being the most fiercely independent and anti- big business, being the
only one not allowing a McDonald’s in the entire country.

“First and foremost, we want out of the United States. It’s not just an
anti-Bush statement and if Kerry was elected, we still would have wanted
out,” said Naylor. “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 of out state, even as we approach federal and
national issues.”

Besides Naylor and Kuntsler, 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.