Goodbye Vermont!

Guest Post By John Curran;

Disillusioned by what they call an empire about to fall, a small cadre of writers and academics in Vermont want the state to secede from the United States.

In 2005, about 300 people turned out for a 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 13 per cent of those surveyed support secession, up from eight per cent a year before.

"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."

Vermont, which was historically conservative, has evolved into one of the country's most liberal states since the latter part of the 20th century, a bastion of counter cultural dissent and New England self-reliance, where folks wear their hearts - and their anti-war stickers - on their Subaru station wagon bumpers.

The Vermont movement has been simmering for years but gained new traction because of the Iraq war, rising oil prices and the formation of several pro-secession groups.

For now, the would-be secessionists are hoping to draw enough support to put the question on Town Meeting Day agendas.

"We're normal human beings," said Williams, 39, a history professor at Champlain College.

"But we're serious about this. We want people in Vermont to think about the options going forward."

"Do you want to stay in an empire that's in deep trouble?"

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Of course they don't; that is why what I am about to propose makes so much sense.

Instead of just becoming independent and going it alone, do an about face and JOIN CANADA.

After all, Quebec will leave sooner or later (Or kicked out!) and Vermont could just take over where Quebec left off.

It would certainly be advantageous from a monetary standpoint since Vermont would then receive much more than it puts into Confederation. (Just like Quebec!)

On top of that the good citizens of Vermont could extract any other concessions they wanted out of the Federal Government just by threatening to go back to being a State.

In other words, boys and girls, it's a win-win, no lose situation.

Just like the people of Quebec had before they went and got stupid!

Your "makes sense to me" scribe;
Allan W Janssen

On a side note, a plus for Canada would be that the Bob Newhart show, which was set in Vermont, would then classify as "Canadian Content!"