The
Middlebury Institute
for the study of
separatism, secession, and self-determination
127 East Mountain
Road Cold Spring, N.Y. 10516 Jkelas@ aol.com
Here is some
news from the first statewide convention to discuss secession since North
Carolina in May,
1861. It’s a very promising start.
THE VERMONT
INDEPENDENCE CONVENTION
An Impossible Dream or a Vision
of the Future?
State House Montpelier, Vermont
October 28, 2005
James Howard Kunstler, author of
The Long Emergency, will be the keynote speaker at The Vermont
Convention on Independence to be held in the House Chamber of the State
House in Montpelier on Friday October 28th.
Sponsored by the Second Vermont Republic, the
convention, which will begin at 9:00 a.m. and conclude at 5:00 p.m., is
open to the public and free of charge.
This historic event will be the first statewide convention on secession
in the United States since North Carolina voted to secede from the Union
on May 20, 1861.
Other speakers will include Professor Frank Bryan, UVM; Kirkpatrick
Sale, author of Human Scale, J. Kevin
Graffagnino, Executive Director, Vermont Historical Society;
Professor Eric Davis, Middlebury College; Shay
Totten, editor, Vermont Guardian; Antoine
Robitaille, journalist Le Devoir
(Quebec City); G. Roderick Lawrence, CEO, Stevenson Kellogg (Canada);
(Rev.) Ben T. Matchstick; and General Ethan Allen (aka
Jim Hogue). General Allen is expected to travel by horse to the State
House.
The
objectives of the convention are twofold. First, to raise the level of
awareness of Vermonters of the feasibility of independence as a viable
alternative to a nation which has lost its moral
authority and is unsustainable. Second, to
provide an example and a process for other states and nations which may
be seriously considering separatism, secession, independence, and
similar devolutionary strategies.
The
Second Vermont Republic is a peaceful, democratic, grassroots,
libertarian populist movement committed to the return of Vermont to its
status as an independent republic as it once was between 1777 and 1791.
The Program
8:30 a.m. Registration
9:00 a.m. Invocation:
“In the name of the great Jehovah, and the Continental Congress, “(Rev.)
Ben T. Matchstick, former Bread & Puppet puppeteer
9:10 a.m. The Challenge:
“I am resolutely determined to defend the independence of Vermont,â€
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