Most of the details about Vermont apply to New Hampshire. Although new Hampshire doesn't have the history of having been a free republic (as I recall, Vermont was an independent country for an even shorter period than California was), but New Hampshire does have access to the Atlantic Ocean, something Vermont needs to ask permission from socialist enclaves like Canada and Massachusetts to reach.
Of course, New Hampshire is also the place the Free State Project is working on, and while the Free State Project is not a secessionist organization (we just want to get freedom activists into the territory), quite a few members among the early movers _are_ secessionists. Just by luck the FSP chose the state where my roots are deepest (my mother's family has been in New Hampshire since about the time of the Salem trials, I don't know if there is a connection to the move north, but it's fun to speculate). We're more than halfway there. This month the FSP passed 10,000 members. 20,000 is the magic number where people really have promised to move. (I want to move earlier, but La Esposa has some health problems and I have a crappy low-pay dead-end job with medical insurance, so I can't open my restaurant for a while yet). -- Ward Griffiths wdg...@comcast.net <home.comcast.net/~wdg3rd> The Bible says (in Palms 90:10) that "The days of our years are threescore years and ten", yet Xtians frequently defy G-d's will and continue to preach rather than commit suicide on their 70th birthday. Yeah, the Psalm says you're allowed to live to eighty, but you're going to suffer if you do that, so you might as well just kill yourself. Suicide is not a sin in the Old Testament, and I can't find the spot in the New Testament that changes the status. (This blasphemy is an original from me [wdg3rd], the sort of thing I strive for). ----- "Dennis Lee Wilson" <dennisleewil...@yahoo.com> wrote: > From: "Dennis Lee Wilson" <dennisleewil...@yahoo.com> > To: LibertarianEnterprise@yahoogroups.com > Sent: Monday, March 22, 2010 1:15:58 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: [LibertarianEnterprise] Vermont Secession Strategy > > http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig10/sale4.1.1.html > Vermont Secession Strategy > > > > > by Kirkpatrick Sale > > Recently by Kirkpatrick Sale: `To the Size of States There Is a > Limit': Measurements for the Success of Secession Thomas Naylor has > just outlined the strategy that the Second Vermont Republic is > operating under in a paper he has distributed this week. Though it is > (very) specific to Vermont, where there are now at least nine > candidates for the fall election, it should be of interest and perhaps > instruction to secessionists everywhere. The text follows: > > The Problem: The American Empire is the largest, wealthiest, most > powerful, most materialistic, most racist, most militaristic, most > violent empire of all time. It is owned, operated, and controlled by > Wall Street, Corporate America, and the Israeli Lobby. It has lost its > moral authority and is unsustainable, ungovernable, and, therefore, > unfixable. > > Opportunities: > > 1. The Vermont Mystique. Classic red barns, covered bridges, the > picturesque patchwork pattern of small farms, black-and-white > Holsteins, tiny villages, little rivers, ridges, hollows, valleys, and > dirt roads. 2. The Vermont Village Green. A place where people meet to > chat, have a coffee, a locally brewed beer, a glass of wine, or a bite > to eat; read a newspaper; listen to music; smell the flowers; and pass > the time away. A place which is all about the politics of human scale > – small towns, small businesses, small schools, and small churches. > The village green is neat, clean, democratic, radical, nonviolent, > noncommercial, egalitarian, and humane. A mirror image of the way > America once was but no longer knows how to be. > > 3. David and Goliath Image. What could be more absurd than tiny > Vermont, the second smallest state in the United States in terms of > population, confronting the most powerful empire in history? The image > of Vermont as an underdog is not likely to go unnoticed. > > Challenges: > > 1. Neoconservatives. The Republican Party, Fox News, The Wall Street > Journal , and CNBC. [Vermont] Governor Jim Douglas, Lt. Governor Brian > Dubie, the Ethan Allen Institute [John McClaughry], and True North > Radio. > > 2. Neoliberals. The Democratic Party, most of the national media > including ABC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, PBS, and PBR. Senator Bernie Sanders, > Senator Patrick Leahy, Congressman Peter Welch, and their political > supporters. Objectives: The peaceable return of Vermont to its status > as an independent republic [1777–91] and the peaceable dissolution of > the American Empire. > > Goals: > > 1. Political independence by 2015. > > 2. Dissolution of the American Empire by 2020. > > Strategies: > > 1. Moral Authority. Challenge the moral authority of the U.S. > Government, Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Patrick Leahy, Congressman > Peter Welch, and all of their collaborators. > > 2. Swiss Model. Unabashedly embrace the socio-economic, political > model of Switzerland, the most sustainable nation-state of all time. > > 3. Imagine…Free Vermont. Launch a new political party whose aim is to > elect state government officials and members of the legislature > committed to Vermont independence. Once the party has a majority in > the legislature, a motion will be introduced calling for a statewide > convention to consider articles of secession. After these articles of > secession have been approved by a two-thirds majority of the > convention delegates, negotiations will begin with the United States > Government for the peaceable departure of Vermont from the Union. 4. > Vermont Commons. Develop the economic, agricultural, energy, and > environmental foundations necessary to support a sustainable, > politically independent Free Vermont. > > 5. Radio Free Vermont. Sow the seeds of peaceable rebellion against > the Empire through Vermont-based music produced by Vermont musicians. > > 6. Outreach. Through the Middlebury Institute, the website > SecessionNews.com , and other networks, reach out to other > independence movements in the United States and elsewhere. > > 7. Finance. Utilize modern Internet-based social-network technology to > raise money to finance the activities of the SVR Strategic Alliance. > > Reprinted from The Middlebury Institute . > > > > March 22, 2010 > > Kirkpatrick Sale [ send him mail ], scholar and prolific writer, heads > the Middlebury Institute . > > Copyright © 2010 Middlebury Institute > > >
