TheBanyanTree: The Republic of Vermont? Yeah, baby!

[LLDeMerle]

One might imagine my surprise when I was reading 
the news and discovered that my former home, the 
state of Vermont, is gaining momentum in a 
movement to secede from the union. Clearly, I 
have not been keeping up with the old home town. 
After surprise came a chuckle, I mean, this is 
Vermont we are talking about, counter-cultural 
icon of the northeast, but, really? Is this 
happening? This is gonna be good, I think, as I settle in to read up.

  The AP piece begins with a visit to a record 
store in Montpelier, Vermont’s state capital, 
where t-shirts emblazoned with “U.S. out of 
Vermont!” are selling faster than Grateful Dead 
CDs. To the uninitiated, this is the equivalent 
of, oh, I don’t know
.Hilary Duff? (Luv ya, 
Jerry, keep on rockin’ with Jesus!) In any case, 
you get the picture: it’s serious enough to 
warrant an official t-shirt and in Vermont, that’s seriously serious.

  Now, they don’t want to raise an army against 
the union, they want to do this peacefully, 
albeit complete with sneers and jeers. Alarmed 
with what they consider “an empire about to 
fall,” a posse of writers and academics want to 
go all pre-Revolutionary War and take back their 
status as an independent nation, The Republic of 
Vermont. The fourteen years Vermont was an 
independent nation couldn’t have been all that 
stellar, since they hooked up with the rest of us 
when Ethan Allen wanted to show off the mad 
skillz of the Green Mountain Boys, humiliate some 
officers and show the revolutionaries how it’s 
done, "it" being guerilla warfare, redneck-style. 
Grandstanders. I wonder if he used to beat his chest.

Constitutional law expert, Russell Wheeler at the 
Brookings Institution in Washington questions the 
validity of the movement, saying that if Vermont 
fought and won a war with the federal government, 
“then you could say Vermont proved the point, but 
that’s not going to happen.” Neither the state 
nor the U.S. Constitution explicitly forbids 
secession, but few people think it is politically 
viable, although the concept has found plenty of 
consideration, says AP writer, John Curran.


“Vermont...a left-leaning state that said yes to 
civil unions, no to slavery (before any other) 
and last year elected a socialist to the U.S. 
Senate,” were his exact words. That socialist 
would be Bernie Sanders, our VW bug-driving mayor 
of Burlington, the same “dirty socialist who 
should go to hell” acording to syndicated radio 
show host, Michael Savage. Sticks and stones may 
break some bones but names will never hurt the 
folks who don’t tune in and I have a feeling 
Bernie isn’t a loyal listener. You go, Bernie. 
Oh, wait, he has. Mayor to United States Senator ain’t too shabby.


The secession folks have penned a “Green Mountain 
Manifesto,” says Curran, subtitled “Why and How 
Tiny Vermont Might Help Save America From Itself 
by Seceding from the Union.” A secession 
convention in 2005 at the Statehouse in 
Montpelier (impressive digs) drew nearly 300 
supporters and was successful enough to consider 
yet another. The University of Vermont conducted 
a poll finding that 13% of those surveyed are for 
the movement, which shows an increase of 8% in only 1 year.


“The argument for secession is that the U.S. has 
become an empire that is essentially ungovernable 
– it’s too big, it’s too corrupt and it no longer 
serves the needs of its citizens,” said Rob 
Williams, editor of Vermont Commons, a quarterly 
newspaper dedicated to secession.


“We have electoral fraud, rampant corporate 
corruption, a culture of militarism and war,” 
Williams said. “If you care about democracy and 
self-governance and any kind of representative 
system, the only constitutional way to preserve 
what’s left of the Republic is to peaceably take apart the empire.”


This sounds far more serious to me than the 
rebellion of town, Killington, Vermont, to cut 
and run off with New Hampshire in 2004. The 
movement is said to have been brewing for years, 
but strengthened because of the Iraq war, rising 
oil prices and the formation of several 
pro-secession groups. Supporters hope to have the 
question considered in March on Town Meeting Day, 
when voters gather to discuss state and local issues.


  Frank Bryan, a professor at UVM has championed 
the cause for years and says the cachet of 
secession would make the new republic a magnet.

“People would obviously relish coming to the 
Republic of Vermont, the Switzerland of North 
America,” he said. “
 (Y)ou couldn’t keep them away.”

Skeptic Paul Gillies, a lawyer and Vermont 
historian says “It doesn’t make economic sense, 
it doesn’t make political sense, it doesn’t make 
historical sense. Other than that, it’s a good idea,”

What I want to know is are they going to re-name 
my street, The Grand Army of the Republic 
Highway? Will Lake Champlain become international 
waters? What about Champ, the Lake Champlain 
monster (ala Loch Ness's “Nessie?”) Will he have 
dual citizenship? Will Ben and Jerry's ice cream 
be propelled into an international market? Is 
Vermont resident Michael J. Fox on board with all of this?


You can bet I'll be staying tuned.