Vermont’s Secret to Secess
An article appears in the Washington Post that is worth noting:
Vermont was once an independent republic, and it can be one again. We think the time to make that happen is now. Over the past 50 years, the U.S. government has grown too big, too corrupt and too aggressive toward the world, toward its own citizens and toward local democratic institutions. It has abandoned the democratic vision of its founders and eroded Americans’ fundamental freedoms.
Vermont did not join the Union to become part of an empire.
Some of us therefore seek permission to leave…
It’s quite simple. The United States has destroyed the 10th Amendment, which says that "powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
The present movement for secession has been gathering steam for a decade and a half. In preparation for Vermont’s bicentennial in 1991, public debates — moderated by then-Lt. Gov. Howard Dean — were held in seven towns before crowds that averaged 230 citizens. At the end of each, Dean asked all those in favor of Vermont’s seceding from the Union to stand and be counted. In town after town, solid majorities stood. The final count: 999 (62 percent) for secession and 608 opposed.
In early 2003, transplanted Southerner and retired Duke University economics professor Thomas Naylor gave a speech at Johnson State College opposing the Iraq war. When he pitched the idea of secession to the crowd, he saw many eyes "light up," he said. Later that year, he and several others started a loosely organized movement (now a think tank) called the Second Vermont Republic, which has an independent quarterly journal, Vermont Commons, and a Web site. ..
This is odd to me because I’ve been toying with a novel in which Vermont secedes from the Union. To see some people actually talking about making it a reality is amazing. Perhaps, it’s the greatest proof of the size of the rift between America’s right and left. The secession talk I fear will continue to grow. Vermont is the most likely one to consider leaving, but there are others.
What has held back secession heretofore have been two key things:
1) The institutional memory of the horror of the Civil War. No one in their right mind wishes to repeat them.
2) Internal mobility of the American people. Americans no longer live in one state their whole lives. Half the people or more from Idaho are from somewhere else originally. Everyone I know has lived in different states, worked in different states. That lack of state loyalty makes disunion harder.
Had this been the 19th Century with the same types of conflict, our country would be at war, but these restraining forces have held us back. Will they do so forever? I fear not. The levies are giving way. I fear a flood will come soon.
Hat Tip: Save the GOP
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