Historic Vermont Meeting in State Capital Passes Resolution to Secede from the U.S.

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 North 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 that 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:



“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 theVermont Historical Society; Professor Eric Davis, Middlebury College; Shay Totten, editor of the Vermont Guardian; and Dr. Rob Williams of Champlain College

All states need to move forward on such a resolution. But the sheeple are so intermixed with thinking people that they seem able to destroy any movement by sheet apathy.

er, that´s sheer apathy not sheet apathy!

Well we know where the next attack will be. I remember something like the Oklahoma state house passed a motion to withhold federal taxes until the Federal Government complied with the 10th amendment. 3 days later the Murrah building went up. Or down depending on how you look at it.

Good on Vermont!

I wonder if they have any jobs open.

I believe it´s Wyoming that passed a law and the state no longer accepts ANY federal money. They didn´t want to do things the ´fed´ way, so they´re doing them on their own. Vermont and Wyoming...two good models for all other states to follow.

Turning into butterflies
Above our nation ...

"I wonder if they have any jobs open."

Vermont has the lowest unemployment in the country and never went over 4% unemployment during the ´recession´...

Tom Naylor lives across town from me and is thought to be a tad ´eccentric´, to be polite...

Nice guy...Just a few sandiches shy of a picnic...

Secession should be put on the ballot of every state of the union. The only drawback would be that the propagandists would bring up retirement on Soc. Sec., which is a Washington, DC enterprise.

People already in retirement and depending on Soc. Sec. as their only source of income would probably vote against it. If that obstacle could be cleared, DC would be reduced to being a mere suburb of VA instead of a threat to all 50 states.

I don´t think Vermont could survive as an independent country. You know that the goverment would levy stiff tarriffs and export fees for any goods or services comming in or out, through or originating from the U.S. that would just make it immpossible to be profitable for suppliers.
Shipping stuff the long way around through Canada would be expensive as well.
American based businesses could also be forced out through higher taxes and penalties for dealing with Vermont.
Face it...the state can´t sustain itself without outside imports like oil, gasoline, food and raw materials.
I understand where the people who want to secede are coming from but in the big picture of the world it´s a stupid idea right now.

Texas was the only state to reserve the right to do so.

But 3280, what about NAFTA? Or maybe the new country of Vermont wouldn´t want any part of that giant sucking sound?

I like your style, Vermont. If nothing else, it shows that the independent thinkers are not all absorbed (yet).

You´re gonna need some guys like these:

[link to www.usconstitution.net]

;)

3280, screw you and people like you and your need for OIL, PLASTIC JUNK, PHARMACEUTICALS and other CRAP WE DON´T NEED from ´Big Business´ outlets. I hope Vermont succeeds in seceding, and they go back to living off the land with horse drawn carraiges, I´d be the first to congratulate them and probably have already moved over and lent a hand.

Fascist NWO numbnuts.

13945...Are you really that stupid? How many people exactly do you think that live in Vermont really would want to live like the freakin´ Amish do? Maybe a few thousand in the entire state. What do the rest of the people who still want to live in Vermont but don´t want to live that way do?
I guess in your perfect little world you´d deport them.
Try to be a little realistic here. You seem to have an unrealistic fantasy of some sort of Nirvana.
Vermont has always had a dependency on imports from other parts of the world, even before there were cars and electricity. Did you know that most of the forest in the Eastern US is all second generation? Most of the old growth was cut down for fuel and buildings by the mid to late 19th century. How long would it be before Vermont used up it timber in your fantasy world?
Right now Vermont spends over a billion dollars a year to import energy into the state and it´s gonna get worse cuz their contract with with Hydro-Quebec expires in the next couple of years.
If you bothered to even read what I wrote...I said I understand why they are pissed. I actually agree with their base arguement as to why they want to do secede.
So kill me and call me a "Fascist NWO numbnuts" for being logical and pointing out an obvious flaw and oversight on their plan.