by Kevin Duffield

Created on: March 05, 2007   Last Updated: April 19, 2007

If you go to the home page of the Second Republic of Vermont, you will find the following quote from the Declaration of Independance:

"...governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it..."

- Thomas Jefferson

This could very well sum up the battle cry of the SVR, which was founded by Mr. Thomas Naylor, a former professor of economics from Duke university. The group's core belief is that the United States government has become the very thing that Mr. Jefferson wrote about. So the natural response is to pack up the political bags and head for greener pastures.

"It [secession] involves the denunciation that the United States has lost its moral authority and is unsustainable, ungovernable, and unfixable." Claims Thomas Naylor.

What many people outside of Vermont may not realize is that between January 15th, 1777 and March 4th, 1791 Vermont was an independent republic until it was forced to join the union. Now, with all of the seemingly insurmountable problems that the Federal government has on its plate, there are many that feel that returning to those days might be the best option. The current trend of "Bush bashing" seems to be the one thing that isn't a motivating factor. Mr. Naylor has been quoted as saying:

"It's not an anti-Bush statement, and if Kerry had been elected, we still would have wanted out."

While the future of the SVR is unknown, people should understand that the United States was founded on the principles of freedom. Membership is voluntary. There is no law that I am aware of that declares that a state HAS to remain a part of the union. If the majority of the people of Vermont decide that they would be better off governing themselves as a republic, then they have every right in the world to do so. To force them to do otherwise would be to give strength to the claim that the United States is a tyrannical empire.

If you would like more information, the SVR has their own website (who doesn't these days?) at www.vermontrepublic.org.

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