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Vermont Commons is a print journal and online forum for exploring the idea of Vermont independence – political, economic, social, and spiritual. We welcome your letters, thoughts, and participation.
Issue 24 - Summer 2008
EDITORIAL: Beyond Our Independence Daze: Secession, Common Sense, and “the Spirit of 1777” (Rob Williams, Editor)
“A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason.”
Donald Livingston: Scale And Violence, And An UNtied States - Secession and the Third American Revolution
The time has come for a third American Revolution. The first Revolution occurred in 1776, when 13 out of 30 British colonies in the western hemisphere seceded to prevent consolidation into an increasingly centralized British empire. John Adams, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson were secessionists. The second revolution, the opposite of the first, occurred between 1861 and 1865 (the misnamed “Civil War”) to create a consolidated American Union that could compete with the empires of Europe; a regime “one and indivisible” from which secession would be impossible.
Letter to the Editor: Lorna Salzman - Rare Pre-Conditions for Secession
Dear Editor,
Christopher Ketcham's article in Good magazine (“Most Likely to Secede,” www.Goodmagazine.com) touches on many important issues, of which secession is arguably the most important. While I strongly empathize with the complaints and analyses of the secessionists, I also believe that secession should not be the MEANS, but the END goal.
Ron Miller: An Interview With Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Gaye Symington
Gaye Symington of Jericho, Speaker of the House in the Vermont Legislature from January 2005 to June 2008, is the Democratic candidate for governor of Vermont. This is the second in a series of interviews with Vermont’s 2008 gubernatorial candidates. Progressive Anthony Pollina was interviewed in the Spring 2008 issue of Vermont Commons. Incumbent Republican governor Jim Douglas will be interviewed in the fall 2008 issue.
The Middlebury Institute: Secession - Not Just A Thing of the Past (Interview conducted by Kelly Janis)
Middlebury Campus, April 10, 2008
“Thoughtful Vermonters, opposed to the tyranny of the United States government, corporate America, and globalization, believe that Vermont should once again become an independent republic, as it was between 1777 and 1791, and that the United States of America should begin to peacefully dissolve,” reads an excerpt from Secession: How Vermont And Other States Can Save Themselves From The Empire, a new book by retired Duke University economics professor Thomas Naylor.
Vermont Vox Pop: Shout It Out! An Interview with Filmmaker Bess O'Brien
Bess O’Brien is a filmmaker who lives in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. Her newest film, Shout it Out, is in many ways a collaboration with its cast, a group of teenagers whose thoughts about being young in Vermont helped form the script. The movie will be touring the state this summer. Vermont Commons editor Rob Williams conducted this interview.
VC: Describe the genesis of the Shout it Out, “The Voices Project” movie. Where did the idea come from?
John McClaughry: Free Vermont Media - Beyond Left and Right, An Introduction to Decentralism
Throughout human history, there has been a persistent yearning among ordinary peoples to live under comprehensible social, political, and economic conditions that afforded them shared customs and memories, agreed-upon standards of right behavior, recognized status, security against brigandage and invasion, and reasonable prospects for achieving economic security.
The Greenneck: What Independence Day?
So he finds himself on the cusp of another July 4th and all its strange customs: Parades built on the back of cheap petroleum, night skies polluted by the small explosions of fireworks, kegs and coolers brimming with pallid domestic beers, grills stacked high with chickens who never set foot on the soft, brown earth during their short and brutish lives. And somewhere in there, perhaps, for some (and especially after a few PBRs), a swell of patriotism.
Robin McDermott: Localvore Living - Waste Not, Want Not
Do you want a quick way to reduce your rapidly increasing weekly food bill by 25 percent? It’s easy: stop wasting food. According to a recent article in the New York Times, 25 percent of all food purchased in the U.S. ends up in the trash. Not only is this a waste of money, but it is bad for our landfills now bursting at their seams with unwanted remnants of our wasteful society. I do find it hard to believe that frugal Vermonters are near the national average in terms of food waste.
Kirkpatrick Sale: Distributism - Beyond Capitalism and Socialism
Fritz Schumacher used to tell the story of the three professionals sitting around arguing about whose was the oldest profession. The doctor said that his was the oldest because God operated on Adam to remove his rib to make Eve. The architect, however, declared that even before that God built the world out of chaos. Yes, said the economist, but who do you think made that?
SUMMER '08 WEB EXCLUSIVE: Hiking Vermont's Long Trail...Barefoot.
“North Star” On The Long Trail– An Interview with Dana Dwinell-Yardley
conducted by Rob Williams, webeditor
VC: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Dana: Well, I'm a 20-year-old Montpelierite and eighth-generation Vermonter. I take real pride in being born of our Green Mountain State, of having roots here. I love being outside. I was homeschooled for my entire life and now I work in the "real world" as a graphic designer.
SUMMER '08 WEB EXCLUSIVE: Scotland Secession Reflections by Theo Talcott
Scotland is becoming it’s own country. With it’s own parliament
and government institutions, Scotland is seceding from the British
empire. Someday Scotland will probably be in the E.U. as it’s own
country, a separate and independent nation, like Belgium and France.
