Vermont Secession

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I'm currently neutral (undecided) on the issue, though I'm interested to see whether this movement will continue to gain support or fade out after the 2008 U.S. elections. The following article appeared in The Boston Globe in June 2007.

MONTPELIER, Vt. -- At Riverwalk Records, the all-vinyl record store just down the street from the state Capitol, the black "US Out of Vt.!" T-shirts are among the hottest sellers.

But to some people in Vermont, the idea is bigger than a $20 novelty. They want Vermont to secede from the United States -- peacefully, of course.

Disillusioned by what they call an empire about to fall, a small cadre of writers and academics is plotting political strategy and planting the seeds of separatism.

They've published a "Green Mountain Manifesto" subtitled "Why and How Tiny Vermont Might Help Save America From Itself by Seceding from the Union." They hope to put the question before citizens at Town Meeting Day next March, eventually persuading the state Legislature to declare independence, returning Vermont to the status it held from 1777 to 1791.

Whether it's likely is another question.

But the idea has found plenty of sympathetic ears in 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.

About 300 people turned out for a 2005 secession convention in the Statehouse, and plans for a second one are in the works. A poll this year by the University of Vermont's Center for Rural Studies found that 13 percent of those surveyed support secession, up from 8 percent a year before.

(Article is continued here)

Related links:

The Once and Future Republic of Vermont - Washington Post
A Vision of a Nation no Longer in the U.S. - New York Times
Free Vermont - The American Conservative
http://www.vermontrepublic.org/
http://www.vtcommons.org/
http://freevermont.net/
New England Secession

And there is a group of Libertarians that want to move to New Hampshire, and secede and turn it into a Libertarian utopia.

When the DEA put up road blocks around Key West to try to crimp drug smugglers, this caused traffic problems, and the Conch Republic secession movement was formed.

Other news on the secession front: this month, Lakota Indian Groups announce nullification of treaties, withdraw from US.

don't forget the Alaskan Independence Party or various Texan groups.

These ideas have been around for quite a while, although I never heard of anyone other than Texans and Alaskans wanting to return to being on their own.

Interesting!

First, the recent Vermont move to secede is partly driven by nutjob racist groups (namely the "Association for Research on Ethnicity & Nationalism in the Americas"; nothing to be proud of here: http://www.vermontsecession.blogspot.com/ .

Second, within the last 100 years, nearly every US state has tried to secede ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U. ... _proposals ). It ain't gonna happen.

Third, even if successful in seceding, how would Vermont survive economically? They'd have to trade with somebody, and don't think for a minute the US government wouldn't set up a trade embargo with a state that decided to go solo. And Vermont currently runs a hefty deficit re: federal taxes v. federal spending. Operating capital's gotta come from somewhere (despite popular belief to the contrary)...

Such a secession turned out pretty well for those southern states back in the 1800s !

Good luck Vermont !

No? Yes!

I agree on the population of Vermont. But I was using a list of countries and territories that was longer than yours - there were around 230 on that list. Not all were fully sovereign, but some of the very small ones were, and the others could be.

Maple syrup rocks!!

I support it. I think any state should be able to secede from the union if it pleases without threat of being attacked by the United States. Things may have been better off if the Confederate States of America was left to be.